Friday 30 May 2014

What do you do when the fish bowl lid is the wrong colour?

Good evening folks.
It's been a manic week in many ways and my craft room has been rather neglected. I did however manage to get my bathroom re decorated which is a plus., I won't bore you with pictures, let's be honest, they're not the the most interesting  rooms to photo.
However, perhaps you recall the saga of "winning" a goldfish at the funfair a little while back? I'll be honest, I was surprised that he survived the week but as it has been a while now I'm kinda guessing he's here for a while so his bowl was irritating me and something had to happen. Now, I've actually done a bit of a step by step because, to be frank, you can do something similar on a box if you like the end result, which is this....


This is the original "lid" colour
 I covered the outside with strips of masking tape
 All the excess was trimmed away.
 Flat back adhesive pearls were added. (Tip: If you want to get an even placement without getting too fiddly, pretend you are adding numbers to a clock face. Start at 12 then do 6, swing to 3 and then do 9. You get the picture I'm sure)
 I couple of rows of smaller pears were added to add a bit more interest.
 The pearls got a thin layer of gesso to help give some tooth for the paint to hold and then everything was painted with Americana Deep Midnight Blue and left to dry.
 Next stage; take Americana Raw Umber, Traditions Transparent Red and Yellow Iron Oxide paints and stipple them onto the cover, I started with the transparent colours first, blending  them into each other
 Then I worked over with the Raw Umber.
 While it is still wet, Spritz with water
 and begin to "dab" it dry immediately (Dab as opposed to rub) This lifts some of the colour revealing the blue undertones.
 When dry, drybrush Americana Warm White to highlight the texture
 Seal with a matte aerosol sealer spay and then you are done, and it looks so much better, it even matches my vintage books beautifully (Which are from around 1879 and still in beautiful condition!)

 It was a fun thing to do and I really love how this combination of colours replicates aged metal so beautifully.
Right, I've a class in Eastbourne to pack for so I'll catch up with you later....take care and have some inky creative fun this weekend.

6 comments:

whyducks said...

Oh that is lovely Neil, next the fish then! Lovely idea well executed. x

Nan G said...

Mr. Fish has his/her own flying saucer....cool! Thank for sharing your alteration steps.

Helen said...

What a great look - so much better than the original - bet the poor little goldfish carks it now and you'll be left with an empty bowl....but a great lid! Have fun in Eastbourne.

Anonymous said...

That looks wonderful!

Belinda Basson said...

Loving the alteration. I know this is not a WOYWW post but we desk on...regardless of the fact that Mr Linky has gone on a break with our leader!

Shoshi said...

Totally gorgeous, Neil. What a transformation, and what an improvement on that ghastly blue plastic! Any fish should be proud to swim under such a cover!

Shoshi