My customer loved it

I've heard many stories of artists who venture out toward their dreams and of the struggles they face.

A common thread evolves around money or the lack of, that is.

Thus... the terminology "starving artist" became a catch phrase.

I can attest to the validity of how unsettling it can be not to have a "steady" income 

and how it can make you feel like shit.  

Which in turn encourages all kinds of self-doubt questions to take residence inside your head.

Thoughts are equally powerful, the good and the bad thoughts.

I can choose my thoughts which conjure up belief in myself, my story, and my art.

"If I think I can, I can."

I am extremely grateful to have several customers who qualify to be called collectors of my art because they have multiple pieces.  

Words can never express how grateful I am for their continued support and encouragement.

I have a customer that often calls on me to do custom work for her.

I teasingly tell her that she keeps me in business.  Which is actually the truth.

Some of her requests have me doing things I have not artistically done before.

Sharing with you, her latest project, was the catalyst for this post yet when I started writing it seemed I had more to say.  I decided to go with it.

Anyway...

   I wanted to show you about her project.

She found this wooden tool case that's from the 1920's.  It was rich with history.  You can tell it was well used, back in the day.

My customer found out her nephew and his wife are having a baby.  And she wanted me to turn it into something special.

These were her her guidelines:

She wanted it to be transformed yet not altered to the point of loosing it's character.

She wanted it to be a place for little baby toys, books, etc.

She did not want it to look babyish.

She wanted it to be able to be used, alter, for others things.

She gave me info of the mother-to-be  style and asked me to make it something she would like.

She gave me a deadline of little over a week.

I consulted with Mary, a friend of mine who specializes in refinishing and repurposing furniture.

She gave me some pointers and ideas which lifted my confidence.

Off I went.

I scrubbed, scrubbed, and scrubbed followed by sanding, sanding, and more sanding .

It had multiple layers of dirt and grime that needed to be removed until I could finally start making it look pretty.

The best part... my customer LOVED it!

Here are finished photos.

After several coats of stain

I painted the bottom off white and gently sanded to bring out the texture from the wood. 

I used joint compound with stencils for the patterns on the sides.  Sanded.  Followed by doing a light glazing to push back the white color.

I softly painted the flowers with PanPastels.

Sealed it with four coats of varnish.

Until the next time!