Wedding Gifts, Chapter 2

In which I share with you projects made of wood and paint, and I make a very bad pun (for the second time [for those of you following along at home]).

Just like for the wedding I went to earlier in the summer, I made a set of mahogany tea light candle holders.  I've been dying to try painting sections of something turned to give it a dip-dyed look, so I thought this was the perfect opportunity... and I think I got it!

I was able to use painters' tape to help get a nice crisp paint line on three out of the four holders.  Because of where I wanted the paint to stop on the pink one, I had to hand draw the line which worked fine. After a coat of white on each of them to act as a primer, I think I ended up doing four coats of color, and then two coats of artists' varnish over the entire candle holder.  Once the varnish dried, all I had to do was smooth down the varnished mahogany with steel wool.  I love them!

I also made a little calendar block set.  The 2 1/2 inch blocks were made from scrap hickory, and the same colors of paint I used for the candle holders with the addition of brown.

For the letters and numbers I used black paint and clear acrylic stamps. Once the painting and stamping was done, they were finished with two coats of artists' varnish.

My favorite thing about these blocks is that the many date combinations make so many different designs!

I'm so excited about how the painted tea light candle holders turned out (no pun intended [sorry, couldn't help it])!  And I also think my turning skills are improving.  It makes me want to get back out in the shop and make some more, or think up a different kind of project that involves some turning...  I have a few ideas rolling around in my head, but I'd love to hear any suggestions from you!