Some time ago I posted about my lifelong woes with jewellery storage. To recap, I kept finding that all of my beads, bangles, bracelets and ... necklaces (alliteration heartbreak) kept winding up in a big ol' tangled blob in one storage facility. It was an ugly catastrope. I don't know about you, but decorative jewellery is the last thing I'll think of throwing on before heading out the door, so when your pieces are in a blob, unless you want to wear a necklace that has a headband, a rose garland, a friendship bracelet and a feather earring attached, well, you're pretty much stuffed.
So, I set about exploring some different solutions for jewellery storage and fell in lust with this geo jewellery board by Maidae. Five months later, I have made it - it is mine! In fairness, it took 4+ months of procrastination and 1 week to make.
Here is the original from Maidae...
So now it's confession time. I actually had two attempts at the jewellery board. The first time around I made the mistake of not using primer on top of my wood stain, so the paint job was a streaky mess. Back to Bunnings I went. If you want to recreate this though, you should be right with the following list.
You Will Need
- Timber - I used a piece of plywood and had it cut at 50cm x 70cm
- Stain - I used a 50ml bottle of Feat Watson Prooftint spirit based stain in 'maple'
- Masking Tape
- Primer - I used British Paints Prep 4 in 1 in white
- Acrylic paint - the type you would use for craft is fine. Note, I also patch tested with spraypaint and it did not work as it reacted with the stain (even though the dude at Bunnings said it would be fine)
- Clear varnish - I used Cabot's Cabothane Clear (it's not overly shiny/varnishy)
- 1.5 inch paintbrush for stain
- Approx 2cm paintbrush for paint
- Stanley knife/blade (if you are replicating this geometric pattern)
- Hooks of your choice
- Hanging hardware, if your desire to hang it - mine is just propped against the wall.
How To
- If your timber is overly rough you might like to give it a quick sand.
- Give the timber one coat with your stain - don't forget the edges of the timber. I left mine to dry overnight.
- Use the masking tape to create the pattern of your choice on the timber, again, wrapping the tape around the edges to continue the pattern. Ensure the tape is firmly affixed to the wood to prevent paint seepage.
- If you are replicating the same geometric pattern, use your blade to carefully remove the segments of tape that you will want to be coloured white.
- Apply two coats of primer, being mindful not to apply paint too thickly so it doesn't leak under the tape.
- Apply up to three coats of acrylic paint. I found that I achieved a smoother, less streaky finish by painting the second coat in the opposite direction. Leave to dry overnight.
- Remove the masking tape!
- Apply the varnish. You could probably varnish the whole thing at once (stained and painted bits) but I was a bit worried about streakiness so I used my smaller brush to apply the stain to the painted parts first, and then the stained bits. Took a bit longer but I wasn't prepared to ruin my hard work.
- Measure out where you want your hooks, drill in some holes and attach your hooks (thank you, boyfriend!)
And you're done!
As for the other bits and pieces, I've been collecting a few vessels from here and there. The jewellery box is from Inspired Tribe (got a January sale bargain - $10), silver hammered tins from Seaweed and Sand ($19 ish for set of 3), white canister from Freedom ($7). Ahhhhhhhhh - that feels so much better!
