Turning Trash Into a Treasure State
5 Materials
What do you do when you come across wood trim stacked in a basement corner and headed for the trash? Cut it, glue it, and stain/paint it with Unicorn SPiT Gel Stain, turning the discarded wood into my family's home state- the Treasure State. This project turned into beautiful gifts I was proud to deliver to a couple of family members!
I decided on a decent length to cut the wood trim pieces into for the main boards and narrow, shorter pieces to hold them together. This is my bag of treasure after my son-in-law ran them through his table saw.
I wanted to offset the boards so I arranged them with the trim side down. I made spacers with cardboard to place between the slats, then added wood glue to the backs of the narrow pieces to bring it together.
I let the glue dry, then sanded the piece.
Next I gave it a good mist of water to help the Unicorn SPiT move across and into the wood.
For the fun part I used Blue Thunder, Zia Teal, and Dragonsbelly Unicorn SPiT Gel Stain glaze. I probably got a little carried away with the dots, but I was having fun. Plus, all of the Unicorn SPiT colors are Jasmine scented so there is no need to worry about toxic fumes.
I used the side of my hand to blend and sprayed a mist of water if the gel stain needed help moving.
The blend is finished, now to dry which doesn't take long.
The slats are dry and dull looking so it's time to draw my state. I used a template I drew and cut from a piece of cardboard. I traced the design with pencil, then went over the outline with Blue Thunder using a narrow paint brush.
I marked the designated city with a heart and added a little cross.
I decided it looked a little stark so I blended a little Blue Thunder and Dragonsbelly with a little bit of water to soften the outline of the state with a brush. I used Zia Teal to highlight the heart.
I had Tung Oil on hand so I applied two coats to bring out the layers of color and a little of the wood grain.
I attached a length of Jute rope with stapes to the finished product and admired it on my wall for a little while before I wrapped it up.
I had so much fun with the first, that I decided to do another using White Ning and Molly Red Pepper for the background, then Blue Thunder to fill in the state. This time I left the heart as a cutout.
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2 of 29 comments
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From one Montanan to another, good job!!!!
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Wonderful idea, nicely done!
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