Finished Metal Tray

Here are the remaining stages of the metal tray makeover. The first photo shows some additional sanding, along with a black glaze acrylic paint drybrushed in spots.







The next photo shows what the tray looked like after I went over it with a brown glaze.







The third photo shows some additional drybrushing with some Quinacridone Burnt Orange and Quinacridone Nickel Azo Gold (both by Golden) as well as an espresso metallic paint I bought the other day for a different project.



As soon as we have a day when it's not raining, I'll take the tray out to the garage and spray it with a matte finishing spray. If I'd planned to use it for display somewhere, I think I would have done some collage, but I plan to use it in my studio to corral containers of scissors and glue. I think I'll glue some felt to the bottom to make it easier to slide out and access the tools I want. I guess really it's premature to call it "finished", but close enough!







The last photo is not really related to this subject, but you might be interested anyway. I keep a stack of old book covers near my painting area (the laundry room - I don't dare try to paint upstairs in a carpeted room!). I use these for a lot of my collages. I like to cover them with tissue paper, which I glue on either with white glue or acrylic medium. The tissue paper, which I allow to wrinkle, gives a nice texture to the surface. When I'm painting a project, any leftover paint I brush onto these old book covers. It creates a great depth and layers of colors, and lets me feel virtuous that I've made the most of my supplies. Often, by using this method, I obtain beautiful backgrounds for collage. Old books are available very cheaply at thrift stores and garage sales.







This was a fun experiment. I did go back to the thrift store to get another tray; I plan to try a collage on it. I'll let you know how it goes.







Keep experimenting!



Immi