Wednesday, June 16, 2010

Texture Paste!!! My Favorite!

A few years ago I took a class at Roberts Crafts and made this clock.  I didn't actually make this clock, but I did create the texture on the clock and paint it so it stood out.  And thus began a life-long OBSESSION with texture paste.  If you have never heard of it before, pull up a chair.  You will LOVE it!
Here are the tools you need.  Your wood project, a stencil, texture paste(comes in many colors), painters tape or masking tape(mine is holding the jar of texture paste so you can see the front of the jar), a putty knife, and a junk knife or popsicle stick. 
Position your stencil over your project where you would like the design to be.  Tape it down.  You can get creative with the tape.  If there are parts of the stencil you don't want on your design, simply tape over them!
If your paste comes in a jar, give it a little stir.  Some kinds come in tubes.  In that case, kneed them a little before you start. 
Next, get a nice size glob, and plop it in one spot... 
Like this.
Now, set your putty knife down on the area, just before the pile of paste.  Applying even pressure, not too hard, not too soft, drag that pile of paste across the design.  If you want a texture that is barely there, go ahead and push down a little harder.  If you want a dramatic texture, don't push down hardly at all.  You will get a thicker layer.
It will look something like this.  Don't lift up on the knife until you are all the way across the stencil!!!
Your project will look something like this.  Now carefully pull up on the stencil.  Slow and steady wins the race.
Looken' good!
You should look something like this.  There are a few messy spots due to the fact that my stencil is ancient and parts refuse to stay down.  I should have picked a better stencil to show you instead of the first one I came across.  On the other hand, you can see what could happen.  If you are not happy with how the design turns out, take your putty knife and scrape across the project.  The texture paste will come right up.  Just wipe it back into the bottle, wipe the board down with a wet cloth, and try it again.  This is very forgiving stuff.  I just used a Q-tip to cleaned up my "dirties" and continued. 
To clean up, I set the stencil on a flat surface and scrape across it.  When you pick it up, there will be paste on the surface.  Scrape that up and wipe it back in your jar.  Wipe the stencil and the surface you cleaned it on, with a wet rag and you are done! 
Now, you will need to let the paste dry for 15 minutes if you did a lighter design, longer if it is thicker.  Once it is dry, you can lightly sand it to remove any peaks in the texture.  I usually don't.  If you are doing a project like my clock...
I did each section one at a time-that would make 4 separate times.  Luckily this paste drys really quickly.  You can always speed it along with a blow dryer if you are as impatient as I am. 

Once you are happy with your design, paint it!  I will tell you, the clock was my first texture paste project.  I bought the jar of white paste from Roberts(they have it at Michael's in the tube).  I painted it black, then white, then sanded it till all of the above showed through in different places.  On this Family Home Evening sign...
I had picked up a tube of tan paste on clearance from Walmart(like 4 years ago when they sold the stuff).  I got it 'cause it was all I could find in my small Minnesota farm town.  I didn't think I would like the color.  It actually worked VERY well since I was painting the board white.  This cradle I made Emmalee for Christmas...
I used white texture paste and really wished I had some of that tan!  I finally realized why you would like it in colors.  Then when you sand the paint, and it rubs off to reveal the paste, and you can actually see it!!!  I actually never finished this cradle, of course.  I planned to sand and stain, but never got that far. 

In Minnesota I had a farm-like house with a large kitchen FULL of terrible stained cupboards, doors made of plywood.  It is the thing out there.  Anyway, I painted the cupboards white, then texture pasted the same grapevine/berry stencil I used on the cradle and the sign above.  I LOVED it!!!  It was just the touch of "beautiful" I needed to take those flat, boring doors and make them totally unique.  The best part was, even with more than 30 doors, I didn't even use one whole jar of paste.  You wipe on, wipe off.  Like the Karate Kid :0)  It goes a LONG way!  Try it.  You won't be able to stop! 
This project was linked up to:
Fine Craft Guild


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9 comments:

  1. Okay, I'm inspired! I want to get my hands on some of this stuff!!!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Just wanted to le tyou know you have a award on my blog.

    http://adventuresofthedomesticatedmama.blogspot.com/2010/06/and-award-goes-to.html

    ReplyDelete
  3. Great! Now, I have to make another trip to Hobby Lobby. Thanks for the tutorial. I can't wait to try it out.

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  4. this looks like something right up my alley. Where do you get the texture paste at a Hobby Lobby? Michaels?
    Pam

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  5. Hey, Becolorful. I can't find your email address, so I will answer you here. I have seen the texture paste at Michaels, Joanns and I think Hobby Lobby. If you can't find it right away, ask for it. It is usually around the painting stuff.

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  6. That stuff is great! Where have I been?

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  7. LOVE the FHE sign!! Thanks for linking up!!!

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  8. This is such a fantastic idea! I may have to go check this stuff out! P.S. Love your Eclipse countdown, too. :)

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  9. This is a GREAT tutorial. I love to try this. I've only used texture paint in actual painting (as in artwork), but not in the way you are applying it here.

    Thanks for linking it up at Fine Craft Guild DIY Linky Party.

    Do join our next party again with a great tutorial. The party will open Wednesday and you can reach it from our homepage.

    :0-)
    Rose
    Http://www.FineCraftGuild.com

    ReplyDelete

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