Art Nouveau Gorgeousness

Thank you so much to everyone that emailed to tell me
they missed seeing our pieces on the blog!

I know we were sidetracked for awhile,
but I feel like we're back with a vengeance...

Ken brought someone on board to help him prep the pieces,

so they are getting to me FAST!

I've been painting like a maniac all week :0)
(you know how happy that makes me, right?)

We picked up this GORGEOUS dresser last week

She's a BEAST...80 inches long and weighs a LOT

I fell in love with the curves on this girl, and all the amazing details

Very Art Nouveau, don't you think?

My inspiration:

The finished piece makes me HAPPY

I used Credenza One Step Paint from Amy Howard at Home as my base

to create the custom colors you see here

A sultry blue green, a soft mint, and just a touch of white for contrast

I decided to gold leaf ALL the raised details

Yes, it took forever

Yes, I used a lot of gold leaf

(but at $10/25 sheets, who's counting??)

I don't always use Bole underneath the leaf...

but in this case, I loved the way the deep reddish brown color

 played against the cool greens

The handles are cast brass, and are original

This beast certainly is a beauty now, don't you think?

Thanks for stopping by!

Michele

Overcast

It's raining buckets today in "sunny" Florida

The skies are grey and cloudy

The perfect day to introduce you to our newest Real Milk Paint color

OVERCAST

This little wash-stand has the sweetest details...

Doesn't the detail at the top remind you of waves?

We opted for a slightly cottage/beachy vibe

(watching the clouds roll in at the beach in the summer is always AMAZING...

and those memories inspired this piece)

OVERCAST is the perfect grey, in my opinion...

mid-range, not too cool, not too warm

not too dark, not too light

as Goldilocks would say, "it's just right"!

We dry-brushed a bit of watered down white milk paint to provide a beachy feel

and add some contrast

As always, milk paint distresses naturally and beautifully

The outside might look old and distressed

but inside, the drawers are minty fresh and clean!

If you haven't checkout out the new colors from Real Milk Paint Company,

we encourage you to do so...and thanks for stopping by!

Update

Good Morning!

STILTSKIN STUDIOS

will be CLOSED tomorrow (Saturday, 4/26)

so we may attend

FANCY FLEA

Hope the see you there!

She's got Legs...and they are Orchid

We've been SO busy lately!

For starters, I have new colors I have NOT even opened!

I know! I can hardly believe it, either...

I took a bit of a breather the past two days,

focusing not on custom orders or clients, but on a few things I wanted to work on

just for the sake of doing it

The beauty of spring rarely strays far from my thoughts, however

and its lush beauty certainly influenced my color choice

This little cocktail table started out pretty great

How much do you LOVE those long, curvy legs?

It seemed the perfect candidate for 

Amy Howard Home's newest One Step Paint color, ORCHID

This was a really quick project...but I love the finished product

clean lines, simple finish, spectacular color

Here's the finished piece

I wanted to draw attention to those killer legs,

so I applied Amy Howard's Silver Leaf

(no Bole, just Size and Leaf)

Working on this piece today was a great way to quiet my mind

and just focus on creativity and beauty

How about you?  

Is painting simply a means to an end for you, or is it your "me time"? 

I also dipped my brush into one of the new Real Milk Paint colors,

MINTY FRESH

but that's another post!

Reasons and Seasons

A good friend told me everything has a reason and a season...

and I could't agree more

Sometimes, though, it's hard to distinguish the reason 

and where one season ends and another begins!

But enough contemplative narrative...

No deep thought is required to embrace THIS season

SPRING has definitely SPRUNG!

There is something so fundamentally necessary and restorative about being outdoors,

preferably barefoot...connecting to nature

Achingly beautiful, isn't it?

Just waking up an hour early, engaging in the beauty of your surroundings;

it makes you  feel so ALIVE

This explosion of color has us yearning for happy, sunny colors on furniture...

How about you?

M~

Oooh....shiny!

GOODNESS GRACIOUS!

What a WHIRLWIND life has been around here!

I know you're itchin' for more details and photos from around the plantation,

and we PROMISE they will be coming soon

For now, though, I believe I owe you a little tutorial, right?

Want to make things sparkle and shine? 

How about a little gold or silver leaf...

 (actually comes in sheets...this is my pile of debris...but it is still SO pretty!)

Step one is to paint your piece (if desired) with the paint of your choosing and allow to dry

(I used Amy Howard at Home One Step in Palmer Pink)

Next up is applying Bole (pronounced like bull)

Historically, Bole was clay-based, and used to make the leaf really "POP"...

the color of Bole is dependent upon the type of leaf (silver, gold, etc) and the desired effect

(I did a project with Bole and a project without...both are lovely)

Keep in mind that some of your Bole color will inevitably show through the holidays 

(areas where there is no leaf), and the brownish red under gold is very authentic

 The Bole will look like the ugliest paint color ever...but fear not!

 it gets LOADS better, I promise!

 Once the Bole is dry, you'll want to apply Size

Size is what makes the leaf stick

so you'll want to be aware of your coverage

Sparse coverage will give you a sort of mottled effect

while more thorough coverage leads to more complete coverage with the leaf

When the Size is tacky 

(use your ring finger to test...does it resist and stick a bit?  Perfect!)

you can begin to apply the leaf

The leaf is sold in sheets, and for this project,

 I cut a portion down to size by cutting the entire book in half

(photo above shows the already-cut sheets)

I used these more narrow sheets for the smaller trim work,

 and used the full size sheets for the legs

You'll want to apply the leaf sheet directly onto the Size, 

and avoid touching it too much with your fingers

See the orange tissue sheets that separate the leaf in the photo above?

If you keep your leaf attached to the book,

you can use that tissue to burnish over the leaf with your finger

Once you place your leaf, burnish, and remove the tissue

you will want to smooth over the leaf with a fairly firm brush

 See the areas where the reddish Bole is peeking through the gold leaf?

Those are the holidays

After you're satisfied with the leaf application, you're ready to seal the finish with wax

Can I tell you how HAPPY this makes me? 

 Wax does NOT remove the leaf...

if you've used Liquid Leaf and some other gilding pastes, 

you'll know exactly what I mean

 Ta-Da~!

So fancy :0)  

On a completely unrelated note...

I had this genius idea to plant miniature rose bushes in my old paint cans...

I say "genius" in jest...because I kill plants

Also, by "plant" I mean I ripped them from their little containers and crammed them,

dirt and all, into the paint cans

By some miracle, they did NOT die...

(well, at least SOME didn't die!)

and the little rosebuds are shades of pale pink and magenta...amazing

Be BRAVE and try silver or gold leaf...it's messy, its fun, and it's GORGEOUS!

M~

Patina

We can't share too much about the plantation just yet...

but we did want to share our experience there with you

We're suckers for original paint and patina..

so you can imagine the beauty of age surrounding us there

Most of the plantation has been restored to it's former glory,

but the owner acknowledged the need to preserve some of the patina

and the mix of fresh and old is stunning

They say a picture is worth a thousand words...

so we'll shut up now

Thanks for following along!

Kenny and Michele