Diamonds Are A Girl’s
Best Friend
Every girl loves
diamonds! The more bling the merrier. ‘Cuz, it don’t mean a thing if you ain’t
got that bling! I’ve created some spectacular and sparkly faux finishes over
the course of my faux art career but this one takes the cake. A furniture piece
that is metallic and heavily embellished with rhinestones. (Okay the title says
diamonds and anyone willing to pay for real diamonds for this much
embellishment is welcome to call me- Let’s do it!)
How it’s done:
1)
Select a piece of furniture that you love the
shape of. The finish doesn’t have to be perfect.
2)
Sanding may be necessary to remove any old
varnish.
3)
Be sure to wipe it down with denatured alcohol
to remove the grime.
4) Use a primer with a great grip. I’ve fallen in
love with Valspar Bonding Primer. It dries quickly, gives a great white out
coverage, and grips like crazy.
5)
Use a base color coat based on what you
ultimately want the metallic to look like. For this I used a warm soft grey. (Remember
metallic paints will reflect from the back side as well. Do a test on a board to
be sure first)
6)
I call this “Base coat 2”, a metallic paint
coat. I typically do two layers to ensure it lays the way I want it to.
Confession, no one had the exact shade I wanted. I wanted somewhere between Champagne
and Silver but not quite what Modern Masters calls Warm Silver. That was too
heavy a color. I ultimately mixed up my own color.
7)
Metallic Foil. In this case I used silver from
Faux Effects. Heavily.
8) Seal the furniture. This is especially important
since it will be touched every day. I’m a big fan of C500 urethane. It doesn’t
yellow.
9) The
next step is the most tedious. Place the
embellishments where you wish. I was fortunate to come across Michael Richards iron-
on rhinestones that come in strips. It took forever to get enough though. Seems
Covid was holding up production and shipping. So, patience is a must.
Additional corner rhinestones were ordered through Dream Time Creations. They
have a world of gorgeous embellishments. Be sure to use flat backed. The larger
upper corner pieces that are surrounded by small rounds were ordered through
Glory’s House. I tested several embellishment adhesives, and, for me, Arleen’s
jewelry adhesive worked best. It’s available through Amazon and Michaels. The
thin tube tip gives control. It dries quickly and holds strong. Again. use
patience because it grips hard so you have basically only seconds to move
things around if need be.
10) Place rhinestone hardware knobs and handles.
And
now here it is in all its blingy sparkly glory:
Have a furniture piece that needs a sparkling lift? Contact me at
Swan Studios Inc
Here are some more glistening furniture inspirations I've created
"Glitterized" jewelry armoire:
Faux marble table top with metallic gold veins and pixie dust:
Metallic distressed finish:
Follow all of Swan Studio Inc's art adventures on:
#paintedfurniture #embellishedfurniture #capecoralfauxartist
