Sometimes You Just Have to “Bite the Bullet” and Give It A Try

Or in this case the Acorn….(heehee)

You see a customer brought me an old mirror with a top trimmed with lifesize acorns hoping that I could fix it….hmmm!  She brought it all the way from Massachusetts!  There were a couple of acorns missing so being commissioned to make repairs I took the challenge.   Sometimes I wonder “what was I thinking”.  My customer was totally thrilled that I would even try because she said she had taken it many places and  no one would give it a shot!

 After she left I was looking over the situation and got the idea to try to find some small wood component that I could “doctor” to fit the shape I needed.  Ok the challenge was on!

First I went to Michaels and looked around and amazingly found some small pieces of wood that I could carve into the shape of an acorn.  This was not easy as I am definitely not a carver and do not have “carving tools”…I used a sharp box cutter and sandpaper and hoped for the best.  After I got the basic shape and size that I wanted…I used Paint Couture!™ Embossing Medium to enhance the shape and fill in where needed.

The Embossing Medium was fabulous because I found that when dry I could actually carve that too!  Great!  It really carves nicely!

Then I painted the acorns I made with Paint Couture!™ Pale Gold…let them dry and then sanded to smooth them as much as possible.  I put another coat of paint on, dried them then used Van Dyke Brown Glaze to “dirty up” the gold.

Since my acorns weren’t perfect I moved the acorns around on the mirror so that the original ones were all in the front and put my “replacements” in the back.  I think it turned out pretty good…here it is complete!  My “faux” acorn is the one at the far right!

When you love something it is always better to paint it or repair it to make it “new” again!  My customer loves this piece so I know she will be thrilled to see it repaired…glad for her sake that I wasn’t afraid to “bite the bullet” and give it a try!