Its been a little busy around here! Its been very hot and now it feels like fall….crazy but nice! (either way). I guess I am off track…this is the first post I’ve ever done without pictures. Now I don’t know about you but I love beautiful pictures much more than words – so this is a real departure for me. Must be due to all the midnight oil I have been burning lately.
We had a Paint Couture Workshop last night and it was really fun. We experimented with some paint / glaze combinations. I think my favorite was Italian Ivory with Verde glaze (mostly wiped off) and then zinc glaze on top. We took off most of the zinc and left it in the crevices and on the edges. It really looked amazing. I should have taken a picture but sadly didn’t think of it. I am going to replicate it and will show pictures then…have a little patience. We also stenciled and played with gold leaf. A very good night.
We also did a coat of Baltic black over gold (modern masters)…I waited a wee bit too long to wipe with the baby wipe so it didn’t turn out as planned BUT it turned out great anyway and demonstrated to the class how things can evolve… After wet distressing it we put a thin layer of another shade of gold over top and then took some of that off. In the end it was very rich!!
The class was really great because allowing for “shit happens” to happen made my students even more aware of how painting furniture is an exercise in total creativity and it is sometimes good to deviate from plan and that it is not the end of the world when things go wrong because maybe it turns out better…or you learn something new.
Actually in my shop I have found over the years that little unplanned events often evolve into great design ideas or new uses for items. My best example of this is when the phone rings and you drop what you have in your hand and run for the phone – more often than not the place you put down the item just happens to be amazing and then everyone buys the item to do what you did with it.
One of my class attendees did a fabulous job gently sanding a sample which already had two coats of Italian Ivory on it – the intent was to make it smooth like glass but not necessarily distressed. She did a fabulous job – when she was done the piece felt amazing and had a great shine to it. She found out that sanding is an art too.
I also started a blog for Chester NJ…with the help of Dana B. (don’t know what I would do without her). It is still in process but we went ahead and published a couple of postings to get it up and running…I think its going to be pretty great. The goal is to blog about Chester shops and businesses, our Farms and Parks and the events that make this area unique and charming. The name of the blog is Chesterstreettalk – check it out!!
The Whistling Elk 
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