edit my drawing

[bardy]

okay so I have a pretty big bare wall in my living room

I want to put something there that fills msot of it but I am cheap and bored so I want a craft project


I have this rug:
in there now along with some cream and dark brown acessories. I have light pine (cheap) colored furniture and white walls.

anyway I want to make something that looks like this (I dont have any graphic programs on my work computer and I did this with excel with limited colors so bear with me)



The three panels will be wood that is stained sucessively darker. I dont know if I can accomplish this by applying more coats or I need to get three different stains ($$!!!)

It's made to be simple becuase I am by no means an artist and shapes are probably all I can visually accomplish. The red will be more orangey to match the rug and the brown will hopefully not blend in that much with the darker panel, although I think the white on the darker one is quite a nice effect.

Anyway submit your ideas

[tcm]

cocks are on the way.

[bardy]

what

[wHATcOLOR]

monster ones!!

[ohnoitsbonnie]

i love it, brady

[tcm]

to be honest, i don't understand.

[ohnoitsbonnie]

i have no idea how to help you, though.

[duovamp]

http://img217.imageshack.us/img217/2...mmanderqj1.jpg

[alisonmonster]

yeah, i think you could coat each with different amounts of stain to make them darker.Then i would add 5 coats of Laquer or somthing to make them nice and shiny. But before you start coating with the stain, mask off (some good tape would work) where the 'branches' are - you can put the tape down and trim it with an exact-o knife. So all the branches would, after the stain has dried on all the panels, be the original wood. You could also mask off the 'sun' and later stain it with a mahogany stain or somthing. I sort of like the idea of all the panels being dark with the original wood branches.

shit that took a long time to write.

[tcm]

is this what you wanted?

http://img108.imageshack.us/img108/8949/untitleddi9.gif

that was totally a piece of co... cake.

[duovamp]

Originally Posted by tcm

that was totally a piece of co... cake.

Well done.

[Lola]

Canvas would be cheaper and probobly easier to work with than wood.

[bardy]

Originally Posted by alisonmonster

yeah, i think you could coat each with different amounts of stain to make them darker.Then i would add 5 coats of Laquer or somthing to make them nice and shiny. But before you start coating with the stain, mask off (some good tape would work) where the 'branches' are - you can put the tape down and trim it with an exact-o knife. So all the branches would, after the stain has dried on all the panels, be the original wood. You could also mask off the 'sun' and later stain it with a mahogany stain or somthing. I sort of like the idea of all the panels being dark with the original wood branches.

shit that took a long time to write.

that is a good idea!! I dont know how much stains bleed? would the normal painters tape be good enough to hold the stain back. I still want red in there somewhere--maybe I coudl find a reddish/orangish colored stain to use for the sun. however the dilmea is my white stripe. I cant really bleach the wood to make it lighter, and I am not sure if the white painted stripe would look tacky if everything else is painted. its just supposed to sort of be a background thing

[bardy]

Originally Posted by Lola

Canvas would be cheaper and probobly easier to work with than wood.

yeah but I have other artwork that's on canvas. I just like the idea and warmth of the wood panels. but I have to see if I can find some light enough that wont weigh a million pounds (I am not trying to find the studs in my wall to hand teh suckers)

[alisonmonster]

you could just ask someone who works at a painting store what tape to recommend, though i've used reg. painters tape to stain and it worked fine. You could def. find a reddish stain - ikea used to carry some, not sure if they still do. I don't think you need a white stripe, and yeah - if you were working with wood grain, a painted one would look weird. I'd presonally take it out, but its your call. If you do it, post it when its done.

[duovamp]

http://img515.imageshack.us/img515/3223/34t3t3be2.jpg

[bardy]

hm

[duovamp]

Originally Posted by bardy

hm

It's a fine adjustment.

[bardy]

but I cant really paint between the panels because that is where the wall is going to be

[tcm]

Originally Posted by duovamp

http://img515.imageshack.us/img515/3223/34t3t3be2.jpg

i'd get that rash checked out if i were you.

[duovamp]

I just kept scratching...

[wally]

Originally Posted by alisonmonster

yeah, i think you could coat each with different amounts of stain to make them darker.Then i would add 5 coats of Laquer or somthing to make them nice and shiny. But before you start coating with the stain, mask off (some good tape would work) where the 'branches' are - you can put the tape down and trim it with an exact-o knife. So all the branches would, after the stain has dried on all the panels, be the original wood. You could also mask off the 'sun' and later stain it with a mahogany stain or somthing. I sort of like the idea of all the panels being dark with the original wood branches.

shit that took a long time to write.

That probably wouldn't work. If you're staining something, no matter how well you tape it, the co... stain penetrates the wood and seeps in under the tape lines. You can do this with paint, but not so much with stain.

You would only need one can of stain and you could get the varying colors effect by doing mulitple coats of stain on different pieces of wood. The shelac or lacquer idea would be good, but so wood polyurethane. Get a wipe on poly and you'll be able to give it a nice gloss depending on what look you're after. Make sure you sand in between each coat of stain with either steel wool or sandpaper so that the stain goes on evenly (you don't want blotches).

Are you planning on using plywood? If you are, go to Home Depot and buy some of the 2x4 precut panels of 5/8 or 3/4 plywood. They sell something called "Whitewood" or "Sandeply" plywood that has a nice finish on it. It's not like sheating plywood that has a lot of voids and would require sanding from the start. Don't spend the extra money on Birch plywood. It's nicer, but it's not going to provide much difference in the end.

The only problem you would run into are the edges being unfinished and the plys showing on the side.

[wHATcOLOR]

i'm a teak man myself, mohogany or cedar in a pinch

[wally]

teak is expensive shit

[bardy]

is plywood going to be too heavy to hang on the wall?

I was checking around to see if anyone I knew had some woodworking stuff so maybe I could find some scrap wood somewhere and cut it down, but I'm not sure.

[Lola]

Plywood is light but not very pretty.

[Lola]

Unless you're going for that industrial look.

[bardy]

ammy where are you?

[wally]

the weight depends on the thickness. you can buy 1/2 inch plywood that has a nice finish on it and it will look as good as poplar or clear pine.

[bardy]

I was laying in bed and had an idea

WHAT IF

the "white stripe" is the unstained portion... and for the branches I "wood burn" it

Now it wouldn't be practical for me to use a real wood burning iron, but could I use a small blowtorch to burn it? I would have to do it in small sections and keep something to put it out if it started to catch on fire--but come on that would look awesome!