Frozen Spit????
5 Materials
$10.00
4 Hours
Easy
Ewww you say? Wait...before you go running for the hills, let me explain. I have a three year old granddaughter that lives with me ,who, like many her age is absolutely obsessed with anything to do with the whole "Frozen" franchise. She happens to have a grandmother (me) who is obsessed with Unicorn Spit. She will be starting Junior Kindergarten in September, and while she has a tiny room, I thought it would be nice for her to have a little desk. I came across some "Frozen" decals at the Dollar store and that got the wheels in my head spinning.
Finished Unicorn Spit "Frozen" table/desk
I went to our local Habitat for Humanity ReStore and found a small end table for $5.00. It was pretty beat up, but the size and height seemed right for a desk for my granddaughter, so I hauled it home and started sanding. I knew I would be chalk painting the legs and base, so I just gave them a light sanding, but I wanted to use Unicorn Spit on the tabletop, so I sanded that down to bare wood so the beautiful grain would show through. Unicorn Spit is a wood stain and glaze in one, and it lets the beauty of bare wood show through. I have never used such a vibrant wood stain before I discovered Unicorn Spit and after you add a topcoat...bam...it looks 3 dimensional. It is a water based product that smells divine (like Jasmine).
Sanding my tabletop
This was the table after I had sanded the tabletop with my trusty orbital sander. There was a sort of "pinwheel" to the graining, so I decided to go with that.
Drying Unicorn Spit "pinwheel"
I applied different Unicorn Spit colours in my little "Frozen" pinwheel. Zia Teal (the aqua), White Ning (white) and Navajo Jewel (teal). I spritzed with water while wiping on with my hand in order to dilute the stain to let the grain show through. Unicorn Spit is very forgiving and you can spritz and wipe until you get the look you want, while still using very little product. I decided I wanted a more saturated colour for the teal border, therefore I didn't dilute that section at all with water and did a couple of coats. When the Unicorn Spit dries, it becomes dull...but have no fear, the topcoat makes it 3-D and stunning. It requires an oil based topcoat so the Spit does not become reactivated when coating it.
Draped before pouring epoxy
I knew I wanted to do a 2 part epoxy topcoat on the tabletop using Famowood (available at Lowe's in the US). Epoxy is a product that you mix 2 parts together and pour on...like liquid glass. I didn't want the epoxy to drip onto the base of my table, so I set it up on top of waxed cardboard and draped it with painters tape and plastic sheeting. I poured on the epoxy and let it set for 24 hours.
Finished TabletopCustom
This was the tabletop after the epoxy had set. I applied the decal before pouring the epoxy, so it is almost as if it is under glass. I also sprinkled on a few handfuls of glitter into the epoxy before it set (my granddaughter is a glitter girl!). This epoxy gives the tabletop incredible shine and durability that is hard to capture well in photographs, but is unbelievably shiny in person.
Custom "sparkle" knob
I made a little knob for her table that I thought fit the "Frozen" theme. It is a wooden knob that I have epoxied using metal flake (the kind they use for car paint jobs). I sell my custom knob creations at LaurieBrennanCreates.Etsy.com. I finished the table by painting the skirt in Fusion Mineral Paint "Picket Fence" and "Renfrew Blue" for the legs. Fusion Mineral paint is a low prep paint like chalk paint (scuffing of previous surface and thorough cleaning) and has a built in topcoat. I am now on the hunt for a small chair to paint to match this little "desk" for my granddaughter
Want more details about this and other DIY projects? Check out my blog post!
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5 of 30 comments
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Great job Laurie! Caley is going to love it!
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Stunning as always Laurie. It looks beautiful
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That's so true Laurie, if they're happy we're happy
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