Back to Basic Painting

I didn't like the way I painted the kidney bench (see last post) so ended up painting the whole thing black. I think it looks better this way. I also painted the little white footstool that had forget-me-nots on it -- I painted it a deep red. The footstools weren't selling painted with flowers, so i am going to try just painting them solid country colors. If they sell, then that is the way I will paint them from now on. I figure that simple colors will appeal to alot more people than the flowers. I am going to take these two to the co op tomorrow and set them out and see if they sell.

A New Look for the Kidney Bench

Well, after a few unsuccessful paint jobs on the kidney bench and a few weeks of sitting at the co op with no buyers, I decided to give it a new look.

I did the top in a faux finish and painted the bottom of it black. It looks better than in the picture at right, though. My benches with painted flowers just don't sell all that well, so I have decided to try some experiements. This is one of my experiments. I will be interested in hearing your comments Val.

A New Look for the Knotmaker's Table

The Knotmaker's Table didn't sell, so I thought I would spruce it up a little with some branches and berries. I don't know if this is an improvement or not, but Diana and Ma like it better than it was. We shall see if it sells.

A Kidney Shaped Bench

I haven't made anything new in the past few weeks so that is why I haven't posted anything here. I have mostly been buying stuff for resale for our booth at the Co op. A few days ago, Nora (my friend Harold's wife) loaned me an old kidney shaped bench that she had out in their garage. I used it for a pattern and made this one shown above. It still needs painting and decorating, but I just had to post it now. It was very difficult to build -- in fact I had to tear it apart and start over three times!! I hope to finish it off in the next day or two and I will post the finished product when it is done.

Thanks to someone who helped me alot

This is a special thanks to my sister, Elaine, for all the work she did on painting Adirondack chairs for me last summer and this summer. She painted over 30 chairs, and many footstools and tables. Elaine isn't painting for me because she said painting really wasn't her thing. She said she would paint Adirondack chairs for me if I get any orders, but I took down my sign and have decided to discontinue with them. So, Valerie said she would paint for me and she is doing a tremendously good job. Well, Elaine, thanks for all the work you did. I really appreciate it.

A Small White Footstool with Forget-me-nots

Here is a little footstool I painted Forget-me-nots on this afternoon. Valerie base coated it white yesterday when she did the one below. I need to touch it up a bit, but otherwise it is done...except for the seal coat of poly. The picture is pretty terrible and doesn't show the flowers off at all . . . they have little orange dots in their centers that don't show up at all in the photo. Oh well.

Here is the painted footstool!!

Well, here is the footstool all painted up that I showed in my last post. Valerie sanded, sealed knots and painted the base coat on the bench. It was her idea to put strawberries on it too. I painted the strawberries. The picture is a little fuzzy, but that is just my camera. I think overall the bench came out pretty good. Valerie also painted a table and another bench for me. I am going to listen when she suggests ideas for painting.

What will this look like when it is finished?

I made this footstool this morning for my new helper to sand and put the base coat on. She is going to start helping me next week and I am getting some stuff made for her to work on. It will be interesting to see how this footstool comes out after it is all painted up. My helper will just put base coats on at first, but eventually, if she is interested she can paint some flower decorations on the stuff as well. In case you haven't guessed, my new helper is my lovely daughter Valerie. I know her first love is quilting, but hopefully maybe she will learn to like to paint stuff also as a sideline. Who knows what the future may bring?

A Cottage Style Footstool

I just finished this footstool today and thought I would post it here. Just to be different, I painted clover on the top of it. Not much else I can say about it, except I hope it sells.

A Round Table

Here Val, is my latest creation. I had a real difficult time getting a picture of this table. Even the one I show here isn't very good ... the table isn't as squat as it appears here. The green is pretty close to the right color and so is the pink/red of the flowers. The table didn't take that long to make . . . the hard part was working out the pattern. I made the pattern from a picture I saw of the table. It took some finagling to get the dimensions to come out right, but I think it came out OK.

A Knotmaker's Table

I made this table in about an hour and it took a full day to finish. There are about 8 steps to getting the finish to look this way. I was trying an experiment in making new stuff look old, and kind of had to make up the process as I went along. I took the table up to the Co op this morning and put it out for sale. It was originally called a Lacemaker's Table, but I don't like that name much and have decided to call it a Knotmaker's Table.

A Wall Cabinet that is Antiqued

I made this cabinet yesterday

and antiqued it to make it look

old. It is a wall cabinet you

hang on the wall and put stuff in. I still have to put a coat of poly on it to finish it. I am going to try it at the Co op and see if people buy this type of thing. If they do, I can do more antiqued stuff, and if they don't, well, I will have to make other stuff.

Just Figured out How to Post Drawings!!

I finally figured out how to put artwork on my blog! I added some stuff to the heading at the top and I added this drawing of a money bag at the left. It is no big thing to a computer whiz like my daughter, but it is a start!!!

A Real Nice Chair Order!!!!

Here is a picture of my most recent order for chairs. The lady ordered two chairs, two footstools and a table. It took me about 4 days to pull the order together. My wonderful sister painted all the pieces here and did a real nice job!!

I charged the lady a small fee to deliver the set as she lived quite a distance from my house and I had to haul the load in two loads as it all wouldn't fit in my van.

I'd like to get an order like this every week!!

The Yellow Bench I Made

I told Val I would post a picture of the yellow bench I made. Here it is. I put white flowers on it and they look better in person than they do in the photograph at the right.

I have been selling these benches for $35 but my mother and wife say I should increase the price to $45. I'm afraid to do that as I may price myself out of selling them.

I tried to give up the Adirondack Chair business but a lady stopped yesterday and ordered two chairs, two footstools and a table, and I didn't even have my sign up out by the road --- I had taken it down. I guess I have to make the chairs whether I want to or not. I like the money though.

A New Post -- Finally!!!

Well, this is the first Post I've entered in my blog in a couple months. I have been busy building things, but just haven't got around to posting stuff. My daughter says she wants to see the stuff I make, so in alot of ways I am posting the stuff for her to see.

Here is a picket bench I made that seemed to be popular. The first one I gave to my daughter as a gift because she wanted one. I sold two more of them and gave a fourth one to my mother.
I would make more, but they take alot of wood to construct and it is difficult to get wood lately, as this is the height of the construction season.

I have curtailed the Adirondack Chair business for awhile. I have made 34 of them and am a little burned out on them. Instead, I am concentrating on products to sell at a nearby Antique and Craft Co-op.

One thing that seems to sell well at the Co-op are large benches. I showed one a few Posts back that had purple flowers on the top. I just made one that I painted with the flowers seen above. I also made a yellow one with white flowers, but it isn't pictured here.

Well, that's all for right now. I will make another post in a few days.

Second Attempt at Folk Art

This is my second attempt at Folk Art painting. I used an Early American Design. I have a problem with the brushes though -- they don't want to come to a point when I make the comma strokes. If anyone out there who reads this has any suggestions as to how I can get the brushes to come to a point, I would appreciate the comment. Maybe my paint is too thick or the brushes stink.

A Floral Footstool

Here is the large red footstool I posted a picture of a few weeks ago, redesigned. I think it looks better. The flowers aren't as purple in the real thing as they appear in the photo, though. The green actually is pretty close to the original. I put it in front of the white cabinet to give a better idea of the scale of it. I would appreciate any comments on it.

First Attempt at Folk Art

I painted over the junk I painted on the footstool below and tried my luck at Folk Art. I have alot to learn about painting the flowers and on design, but I really enjoyed doing this. I hope there is a market for this sort of thing.

Does this look as bad as I think it does?

I've never done anything like this and thought I would try something completely different. I know it kind of looks junky, but I thought I would post it anyways. Maybe I'll paint over it and try again.

A Table Sized Footstool!!

I made this table sized footstool the other day to try to sell at our new space at a local craft and antique mall. I painted it a country red, althought I wish I had left it white. Oh well. Live and learn. If it doesn't sell, I will use it in the living room.

A Crappy Design on this Footstool

I am a little ashamed of this footstool as the painted design is really feeble. But I thought I would post it anyways so I can get my daughter's opinion of it. I actually deleted this whole post and then decided to put it back since I did do the thing.

Another Footstool

Here is another footstool I painted up. I just put decoration on the top instead of all over. It has a creek with some small water falls in the distance and some trees and stuff like that. This is the first one I've ever done with a scene on it and hopefully I will get better in the future. The picture is kind of blurry, but I think it gets the idea across.

A Little Table I Painted Up

The green in this photo is too green. The actual color is much softer than this. I don't know why my camera distorts colors so much. The whole table is about 20" high, so it is quite small. I'm not very good yet at decorative painting, but if I keep working at it maybe one day I will get good at it. Anyways, I am putting this on for my daughter to take a look at -- she is about the only one who checks out my blog anyways!!

Diana's Raggedy Ann Dolls . . .

Diana made these dolls over the past few weeks and I thought that I would post them on my blog. I think she did a real nice job on them. We were going to put them up for sale, but they are so nice she is tempted to keep them awhile.