Painted Stucco Box -DIY

 Distressing a Box with Stucco Paint and Wax –DIY.

Today I want to try to explain this Do It Yourself project as simple as possible..  This process is not simple, but if you take it in parts, it isn’t hard to complete.  It is a process I invented (although I understand nothing is new) Elvis Costello sings “there is not such thing as an original sin.”  You get my point?

I love to play with different mixed media, and I love to distress a piece, just by adding another layer of paint or wax or stucco.

Here is what I did.

I painted this jewelry box with a pale grey latex paint two coats inside and out.

I added 3 layers of Venetian Stucco, pressed on smooth with a spatula (in Italian it’s called “Un Americano”) let it dry to the touch and sanded between layers with 400 grit sand paper.

I then mixed some watercolor a lovely black, and dark blue and some purple to make an gray-indigo color.  I painted over the whole box.  Now the texture of the distressing is starting to show because of the fake crocodile embossed on the box.  I let it dry.

Then I painted on leaves with a liner paint brush metallic silver acrylic paint and outlined  the leaves in black.  I added black to the metal feet and to the closure.

Sette Design Shop

I let it all dry a couple hours and then rubbed on some Bee’s Wax, let that dry 20 minutes and polished it with a soft cotton cloth.

There it is all done.  I think it looks so much prettier than before.

I also did this same process distressing walls of a restaurant in Umbria, Italy.  If you want to read more from an old blog post you can Click Here.   I just added the watercolor to normal wall stucco (joint compound it is called in America) I have added some photos from that project below to inspire you.

Distressing Walls with Stucco and Watercolor

Sette Design

Sette Design

Cheers,

Natalie
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