Painting with wood stain! Here’s a new way to add art to furniture! I am using Mini Wax colored stain to make these designs. First I sanded the top of the chest. Then I started with two colors of brown.
I painted the stain full strength with a paint brush, waited a minute and then wiped it off.
I painted the stain full strength with a paint brush, waited a minute and then wiped it off.
Next I painted some petals on the sunflower and then went back and put another layer on the center to make it darker.
I designed as I painted and decided on three sunflowers of different sizes.
I really like the no color design, but I decided to try adding the color stains. After doing a petal or two in yellow, I decided I liked the way the wood grain showed through the color and decided to add more. The wood grain inspired a field in the background.
When my husband saw the addition of the green field, he pointed to the knot above the field and said, “Look! A volcano!” And a volcano was added. I added some pale blue for a hint of a sky. When I noticed another small dark knot above the volcano, I decided to add the dragon fly!
After adding more layers of stain in places that needed depth, I wrote the hidden scripture verses around the center of the largest sunflower. Here is the finished chest in its place of honor in the train room in our younger preschool area. Sitting by his handcrafted chest is the master woodworker who is also one of our preschool dads, Jonathan Bartlett. He took the chest back to his shop and added several layers of polyurethane to protect the finish. I love the way the wood grain ended up inspiring the design. Our God is the great creator. We are made in His image and gifted with the desire and ability to create! GLORY!
