On the right you see a worn down and beat up little lamp. In fact I personally think it’s down right hideous! However when I saw it I knew I just had to bring it home!
While at the local Restore one of my favorite places to shop, my eye was caught by some thing charming. Not necessarily by the color or decoration on it but by it’s shape!! I had never seen a milk jug lamp before! I was excited at what it could be and the price on it was right. Since it’s a lamp I also knew that it had a 30 day return if anything went wrong with it, also they had a sticker on it saying that it worked. So in my cart it went!!
When I got home I got right to work. I knew the shade and house bored we had to go. Actually I was hoping to redo the shade but it got a little damaged in transport and really was gross. So first of all I removed the shade from the lamp. Next I placed a warm wet rag onto the paper border of the lamp to help with separating the paper from the adhesive. After a little soaking I noticed it was starting to come up at the seam all by it’s self. With minimal help I pulled the raised area to take a peek behind it and to my surprise it started coming right off without any issue! This is great because I didn’t have to separate the paper from the adhesive and then soak that to scrap it all off. The boarder paper came of seamlessly just by pulling the paper.
Once the paper was off I took Dixie Belles white lighting cleaner and gave the piece a nice scrub. Once the white lighting was rinsed with clean water the piece was dried and ready for paint.
I started off with painting two coats of Dixie Belles slick stick doing a light sanding in between coats. Slick stick helps give the paint something to bond to on smooth/slick surfaces, while sanding ensures the surface stays smooth and no bumps are noticed. From this point I put on my base color that I wanted which was Caviar by Dixie Belle. This is a chalk mineral paint that dries rather quickly and is self leveling. When drying of the Caviar was complete I again did a light scuff sand knocking down and little bumps leaving it a smooth flat surface.
Next I tried a new to me technique. I begain rubbing the surface of the lamp with a candle. Now I would have preferred some Gulf Wax or a different type of candle but I used what I had avaiable. Once I covered the entire painted area in wax I took a little paper cloth and rubbed the wax around and down. I thought by doing this it would make is a little better. However after seening the results I think I would have left it if I were to do it again.
Now its time for the top coat of paint. This was done in no other then Manetee Grey by Dixie Bellle. Again this is another chalk based pain. I applied a liberal amount of pain to the entire piece in a stipiling motion. This allows for a little bit of demention. Once the stipling was completed and the paint was dry I was ready for the next step Chipping!!
Chipping was completed by taking packing tape and pacing it ontop of the newly Grey paint. So remeber how we covered the piece in candle wax?? Well this is why. Where ever the candle wax is the paint does not adhere to it strongly. Once the tape is placed onto the piece I rubbed it on hard and even used a card to ensure that it was on tight. From this point I started to rip the tape off one by one. Once the tape was removed it peeled back one layer of paint exposing the Caviar color under neith.
Once all paint was completed I begain to apply a clear coat of wax to the surface. Wax is a good way to give your peice a top coat and some extra depth. I chose to add a layer of Clear wax is to help wipe back and spread out my colored wax that was applied next. I wiped bakc any that I did want like with my lintl free cloth. After avout 1 hour I went back one last time with my lint free rag and buffed the surface. Now this project is complete! Waht do you thing?!?!
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