Gelato Gel Stain Art - A Fall Patio Decor Piece on Wood

It all starts with a piece of wood, a pencil, a design and your Shabby Paints Gelato Gel Stain! Inspiration from a fantastic stain artist/furniture re-finisher over at Sawdust & Embryos, check out her tutorials, videos and projects... she is so talented!

I had a friend of mine request me to draw up a sunflower tattoo for her. In the process of researching for her request I found myself inspired to create a sunflower for our front porch this fall season. Let me tell you how I did it!

~*~ How to Create Wood Stain Art - With Shabby Paints Gelato Gel Stain ~*~

Step

Sand your piece of wood smooth. I used 220 grit sand paper but that is the finest I had maybe a 400 would work also.

Step

Draw your design lightly onto your piece of wood with a pencil. You may want to use a projector to make it larger if you are working on a big piece... or you can just free hand it.

Step

Gather your painting tools. I used s piece of our Vax Applicator Sponge (cut up into different sizes) and a fine artist brush for small details. You will also need water to thin out the Gelato Gel Stain here and there. Begin Staining!

I started in the middle first so it could dry then as it was getting late I did the outer backgrounds. These areas were going to need several coats of Gelato Gel Stain to make it darker so I need this to dry over night several times.

The next time I had some time to work on it I began again with another coat Gelato Gel Stain around the outer edge and let it dry for about 30 min before going back in and adding the details onto the petals. I kept working from the inside out at this point, rotating my piece around and around for the best working angles and perspectives. After the petals were done the outer background was ready for a third coat of Gelato Gel Stain to make it even darker. I wound up using maybe a couple of ounces from my bottle. Took next to nothing!

TIP: the key to a monochromatic piece is high contrast.... Working on wood you will never have a "white" so be aware your darks need to be DARK! Lights and darks need to be dramatic so the shades of stain in between can also thrive and add depth.

Step

Sealer! I use Sheer Vax on this beauty. I let the step above dry over night then Vaxed two thin coats on it the next morning. This is a great sealer with UV protection, It is non-toxic and VOC free.

Here is the final result! What do you think? Comment below I would love to hear from you! Pin or Share if you love it to help support my work. Thank you for coming to my site, Uniquely Grace. If you have any questions about Shabby Paints Products please feel free to ask. Also check out my shop! It has all the fantastic Shabby Paints goodies and more!

Happy Harvest Everyone!

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PS. The difficulty level on this one really depends on the design you choose. A very simple design could make this an easy project and visa versa.