a new/old labrador tray

A while ago a friend asked me to make her a tray featuring labradors. I considered her request and came up with the idea of doing a silhouette of a lab, super-imposed on a star in red, yellow and black. Something that would look like an old fuel sign.

I started by choosing a frame I thought would make a nice tray. I then cut a piece of plywood to fit into the frame I'd painted bright red.

I printed out my design on 2 sheets of A4 paper and (using the charcoal on the back method) traced it onto the plywood.

I painted the dog and background using my acrylic artist paints. I loved the natural colour of the plywood so I decided to leave the star unpainted rather than do it in yellow.

When the paint was dry I gave it a sand to make it look old and worn. I tried it in the red frame and didn't really like it. There is such as thing as too much red.

So back to the drawing board. I cut some pieces of tassie oak I'd gotten for free from the hardware store - they were packers in pallets of products they were tossing out.

I did the steel wool in vinegar trick - I planned to age them with the vinegar solution then paint them and scuff them up to expose the aged timber.

Well... something went wrong. I have no idea what or why, but the wood turned black as soon as i painted the vinegar on it!

You can still see the grain, but its like I used black stain instead of vinegar. Wierd.

However, in my "go with the flow, all accidents are happy little adventures" frame of mind I decided to go with it and make it work.

I painted the bottom of the plywood grey and painted a bit of the vinegar solution over the sanded areas to age it. It went black too. But it works for me. It looks old and abused.

Then I made my first mistake.

I painted some of the vinegar on the sanded red areas. It left distinct stains.

Oops.

Go with the flow. Its all part of the adventure, right?

I stained the entire red area with vinegar to try to smooth it out. The blackness bled into the star.

Ooops again.

I sanded it out, did a bit more sanding, then decided it was good to go. Its just a bit more 'abused' than it was before.

Since this is a tray, and trays are used to carry drinks and food, I gave it a coat of estapol for protection. That's causing the shine in the photos. Please look beyond that. I'm sure some use will take care of that.

I found a couple of old bent handles I had in my collection - they'd been removed from a couple of drawers I'd used in another project.

I used some pre-rusted washers under the handles when screwing them in place, cause the smallest black screws I had were a tad too long. Didn't want the pointy end of the screws sticking out on the inside of the tray!

It worked. I actually love the little rusty outline around the handles.

The photos are giving the black a rather blue tinge which isn't there in real life. Its come up quite good. I hope my friend likes it... Do you friend?

z

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the anti-rabbit

I did take 'before' photos of this rabbit. 

I did.

But I can't find them anywhere!

I got him from the 'free to good home cause they're too ugly to sell' pile at the tip shop last time I visited. The poor bunny had one bead eye (as you can see on his right) and the other eye dangled from a thread halfway down his neck.

Pretty gory looking.

He had the pocket and the red striped ears you see, but no mouth and he was just plain... boring.

I thought I could pretty him up a bit... by making him a monster rabbit. The anti-rabbit of Easter, so to speak.

I gave him a zombie mouth, a mismatched eye, a spotty heart and a few darns and patches. I think he looks much better.

So does my little rat-like creature. He's smitten. Been offering the rabbit flowers since they met.

Hope everyone has a great Easter.

z

Shared at Knick of Time Vintage Inspiration Party!

needle felted rat-like creature

I've been looking at a lot of incredible needle-felted animals on Pinterest lately. Some people are so talented! The expressions, the realistic shapes...

I decided to make my own little dressed up mouse. Its been a while since I made a needle-felted animal. I love working with felt but I'm not exactly consistent.

I had planned to make a mouse but he looks a bit more like a rat. Not to worry. He's still cute.

I needle felted him entirely, except for the white collar on his little orange vest, and his yellow bow tie. 

His eyes are needle felted, with a little white twinkle highlight. I stitched his nose and mouth with black thread.

I had these little metal shavings in my shed... I don't know what they're from, I found them on the ground when we took a load to the tip last year. Hard to see in the photos, but they look like little flowers to me. I made a little stem and leaves out of wire and gave them to my little rat-like creature to hold.

Yep. He looks cute in his perpetual grovelling, apologetic, flower-offering stance.

z

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some good finds i shouldn't have been looking for

I was naughty.

I went to an auction.

I couldn't stay at the auction cause I had to go to work, but I wandered around and peeked into boxes and touched stuff.

Then, despite knowing that I shouldn't, I put in a couple of absentee bids. Ok. Four. I put in four of them.

I ended up getting 2 items.

One was this gorgeous sign, which I love.

I did some googling. Haywood's was one of the first large bakeries in Tasmania in the 1870s. Apparently by the 1930s they were claiming to be Tasmania's largest bakery. I've always loved old signs, but at prices of $400 plus, I can't afford them. I saw this same sign listed on Gumtree for $400 a while ago. I got it for much less than that.

I'm happy.

Its just resting up above the small window in the casita right now, but when I get the chance I'll be fixing it to the wall properly.

The other item I got was a box of 'sundry collectables'. Well, it was a whole lot of metal odds and ends. And you know I love metal crap.

Here are some awful blurry photos of my crap. Two very grimey bread tins with some odds and ends in them including metal sink plugs, a spigot, a clamp, some wierd tools... and a gauge who's numbers move when you move it. I'm sure it'll come in handy one day.

There was a plastic bucket so beaten up it was impossible to tell what it was made of, full of castor wheels. Some small brackets, what is apparently a pea sheller in the perfect colour for my kitchen, a funny clamp thing I have no idea what for...

This image is a bit clearer... You can see the wierd clamp thing near the tiny strainer. Any ideas what it might be? Its brass.

There's a funny strainer which I'll add to my strainer collection. And 2 brass wall mounted candle holders. If I and figure out a way to attach jars with tea lights to them that's what I'll use them for I think.

Or I guess they could be used to hold necklaces or scarves... And more mismatched coat hooks. You can never have too many of those.

There were a couple of other metal items of indistinct usage, not included in the pics cause I'd taken them to Wayne for his input.

Lastly in the box was a 'book' titled How to Improve Your Bowling by Hugh R. High.

And inside is a lovely old glass flask with two shot cups.

So cute. 

Its in the bookcase now for reading emergencies.

z