How to make a Driftwood Frame

Some time ago, I collected some driftwood at the beach in Folkestone (the best time to do it is after the storm, when the beach is full of treasures thrown out by the sea). Today I will describe how to make this simple Driftwood Frame:

Apart from the driftwood, I used a small framed mirror which I bought at a charity shop. You can use any frame which is flat and wide enough to provide a space for the driftwood to be glued to it. I also used a glue gun, a piece of fine sand paper and small pair of pliers.

First I sanded the frame, taking care to sand the edges nicely without scratching the mirror in the process. I wiped the frame clean with a cloth.

Then I started to arrange the flat pieces of driftwood on the frame. Whenever a piece of driftwood was too long, I broke off the end with the pliers and sanded it down. I did not glue the pieces to the frame yet.

When I had the frame covered with the flat pieces of driftwood, I carefully glued the driftwood to the frame with the glue gun. Be careful not to burn your fingers with the hot glue (like I did).

With all the flat pieces of driftwood glued to the frame, I arranged several more on top to cover the gaps and to make the driftwood frame look more interesting. I then glued the last pieces to the first layer of driftwood. Now the driftwood frame is ready:

Happy frame making :)

Yolanta

How to make a Driftwood Frame

How to create a vintage white paint effect

Today I finished a little picture which I prepared for my Mr Partner to celebrate our special date - in two days we are getting married. As I was working on the frame I had an idea to write about how to create a vintage white paint effect. You can use this method for painting frames, furniture or anything made of wood, to make it look much older and 'authentic'. Vintage white paint effect goes very well with shabby chic style. I have a feeling I will be writing much more about it in the future.

So here it goes. You will need: an old or new wooden frame, white emulsion paint, sandpaper, bees wax of dark brown color, soft cloth (I used a piece of old shirt) and some white spirit. First I sanded the frame and painted it with two coats of white emulsion paint.

I waited until the white emulsion has properly dried (best to leave it overnight), then I sanded the frame gently with sandpaper. It has to be done gently in order not to disturb the white paint too much.

Then I rubbed the bees wax into the frame using part of the cloth:

After I finished rubbing in the wax, the frame looked like this:

Then I took a clean piece of soft cloth and polished the frame to remove the excess wax and to make the frame slightly shiny. Because the surface of my frame was not very smooth, I added some white spirit to the cloth to remove the wax more easily. When I finished some of the bees wax was still on the frame, this gives it a vintage look:

I painted this little picture to celebrate our special date. This is a closeup of it, when framed:

Happy making :)
Yolanta

How to create a vintage white paint effect