Shading...

I don't have a tutorial for this creation...yet. This was my first attempt at shading with wood stain, and I really didn't know how it would turn out. Or how I would finish it. Or if I would do it again.

I've been drooling over some gorgeous flower table tops done with stain. They are so beautiful! I don't pretend to be an artist, but I'm willing to try something at least once. I knew I needed to test my ability on something smaller than a table, however.

My super sweet aunt asked me to come up with something for her dinning room. She told me it needed to be the size of an open calendar and have the colors of rust and tan. Okay...That leaves the field of ideas WIDE open! 

Enter: wood stain flower art! I cut some wood scraps to about 17" long. I laid 3 side by side, which came out to close to 11". That's about the size of a calendar, right? I lightly painted the wood with rust colored paint. I knew I wanted some of the natural wood to show. 

Next, I stared looked at a picture of a dahlia. It looked simple, but I didn't want to mess it up! I free-handed the petals and got out my stain. I used a very small sponge brush to apply the stain. Next time, I will use a detail bristle brush for better control to paint the stain. That, and a different type of wood.

This process is time consuming, but hey, I happen to love the smell of wood stain. Like, if it tasted as good as it smells, I would probably try to drink it. I know. I'm strange, weird, crazy, etc. Yes, I know it's not good for you to inhale. No, I don't "huff" the stuff. I just really enjoy using stain. 

(Side-note: if someone really smart could pretty please develop air freshener or perfume that is non-toxic and smells like wood stain, I would be so very grateful!)

Anyhoo, once the stain was good and dry, I painted the petal outlines with a sand color paint. I also added more rust color to the base of the petals to give them depth. 

I cut some 1 x 2"s to frame up the finished art and stained them. After the framing was done, it still didn't look right, so I lightly sanded the edges for that ever popular "worn" look. 

It still didn't look done, so I looked through my treasure box and found some corner protectors. That's what was missing. Perfect! 

Sooo... it looks more like a chrysanthemum than a dahlia, but that's okay. It looks like a flower, which was the point. FYI, I know it looks like a flower because I asked my kiddos what it was and they responded, "a flower." Score!

I kinda' like it. More importantly, my aunt liked it! I will definitely be making more of these types of wood art. The possibilities are endless!