Unfinished bench Gets the Painted Message

 Another sketch, burn, paint project.
I found this cute little bench at an Amish shop in Pennsylvania. I think I paid like $35 for it. A real steal for such a well made piece.

First the whole bench was sanded. Wiping down with a damp cloth afterwards removes any dust left by sanding.

Then I just sketched some pictures on it. This time I went right to the wood and started drawing without pre-sketching it on paper first. I had the designs in my head, but I recommend doing a paper sketch first. Saves some erasing and maybe damaging the wood.

Then I burned the pictures in. I like burning the lines in because, up close, it gives the piece some texture. A quick wipe down with a damp cloth will make sure any little pieces of wood that flicked off during the burning process are gone.

Then I just painted in the pictures. For the day to night look on the top I started with the light blue on one side and the dark purple black on the other and just worked toward the center until it blended. Everything else was just filled in. Kind of like coloring in a coloring book. I never out grew coloring books! I just do it on a different level now.  :)

On one side of the bench there's a family tree filled in with family names for the customer. The other side has two silhouettes sitting before a moon and the names of the couple underneath.

Once everything was painted, I sprayed it with three coats of acrylic sealer.