Friday, September 4

red dresser

mmmmmm... red.....

10 comments:

Unknown said...

Hello there! I wandered in here somehow and have to say I AM LOVING your blog! Would you mind if I featured a few of your projects on my blog? (with credit to you, of course!)

carpenter ant said...

of course not! it would be an honor!

fetchthis said...

Liz...you did the dresser proud! I can't wait to see what you did w/ the rest of the pieces!

carpenter ant said...

thanks teresa! slowly plugging away....

Hailey said...

howdy! your blog is one of my favorites to keep up on. I am so curious how you are able to get this sort of finish on your pieces... do you apply flat paint and then just sand it? I like to refurbish old furniture in my free time - but my mom taught me the glossy paint and stain technique... which is definitely a different effect. I would love to know how to achieve this type of effect - if you can relinquish your secret!!

carpenter ant said...

thanks hailey! you guessed it- paint and sand. this piece happened to have the green under the red already (lucky me) but i often layers of color intending to sand enough to show the bottom color. then i add a protective layer of poly so the top layer doesn't continue to come off. happy crafting!

Anonymous said...

I just found your blog and I'm LOVING your furniture! I'm also curious about painting techniques. Your finishes look so authentic, I had given up trying to paint my own furniture in a rustic way (it always turns out looking like a Ross reject) but now I'm inspired again. Any chance you'd post a tutorial or do you know of any good resources on the web? Do you use tinted glazes on top of the paint? Beautiful stuff!

carpenter ant said...

sure mama plum- i'll try to remember to take some good photos to document the whole process next time i paint and distress a piece of furniture. but i'll give you my guiding philosophy now: it's like any art/ craft. just play and experiment. the fun thing with paint is you can try again and again. if you sand too much, you can cover with paint, if you want another color, add another color. every piece is handled differently in my shop. some are sanded some are wiped, some are one color, some are two, three or four. i'm a big fan of trial and error. so keep trying- soon you'll make something you love!

Anonymous said...

Thanks for the advice. It was nice to hear your philosophy, it helped loosen me up a bit and I've started in on some small frames and stuff. I'm still having a hard time with the distressed look but I'm having fun mixing different colors. Maybe practice makes perfect...

carpenter ant said...

i bet you are your own toughest critic! glad you're having fun- feel free to email me any pictures if you want my 2 cents.