How I Distressed Pine Boards for Photo Backgrounds
December 05, 2016
If you follow me on Facebook, you probably saw the fun pile of pine wood boards that my neighbor left by my front door. Many of you asked what I was going to do with them? Well, they are for the backgrounds of my blog post projects!!
HOWEVER, I came across a little issue.... the pine is so "yellow" that it fools my camera and it makes all the photos really yellow, which require a ton of photoshoping to make them look better.. so.. I decided to buy some paint and start painting and distressing the yellow-ish pine boards to make them look more interesting and a little bit like they'd been weathered for a long time!
The boards were single left over pine planks from who knows what project.. and my neighbor (handy-dandy woodshop neighbor) glued them together into larger pieces.. he sanded them and did the beveled edges on them too!! It's so great to have handy friends!!!! :)
You can see from the photo below, that the pine boards I found in our garden shed, are quite yellow, and after my "distressing process" I managed to make them all look totally different!
I really should have looked on Youtube before I started this process, but I just dove right in with some bottles of acrylic paint, old paint brushes, an old toothbrush, foam brushes, sand paper and old rags.
It was about a 3 day process as I was trying to get the house decorated for Christmas at the same time, and couldn't devote all my time to this project.
My (totally amateur) process to distress the wood:
- start with a wash of paint (acrylic paint watered down) and applied with a foam brush
- sand when dry
- add a 2nd color the same way as #1
- sand when dry
- add a 3rd color with a very dry paint brush to give the appearance of wood grain (with a light touch)
- sand when dry
- evaluate... like it? stop! needs more color? (probably!) :) add more colors either as a wash or with a dry paintbrush
- add paint speckles or streaks with the toothbrush dipped in paint
- distress wood with wire brush, coarse sand paper, or anything that will rough it up a bit
- apply more paint
- sand again
- ya, you get the idea... you could do this for days.... I had to make myself stop!
Notes:
For the blue ones, I started with white paint and added blue, then added more white
For the light ones, I started with white paint and added hints of gray, black and brown (with a very dry brush)
For the dark ones, I started with brown paint, and added white, gray and black paint
On some of the boards, I dipped my rag into water then into paint and kind of washed over the boards.
I basically experimented with every possible combination I could think of. :)
When I am ready to photograph my craft projects, I place them on a board and take photos, as you can see below:
I experiment with different boards depending on the color and size of the project, then crop the photo and add my watermark as shown below.
Above and below:
Examples of different wood backgrounds for my Merry Medley Christmas gift bag projects.
I stamped the Kraft gift bags with my Merry Medley background stamp and decorated them with some Warmth & Cheer designer paper for easy and fun holiday gift bags!
Thank you for visiting with me today!
Need a Stampin' UP! catalog? Please Ask!
Want to place an order? Click any of the product photos below to shop in my online Stampin' Up! store 24/7!
Posted by Patty Bennett on December 05, 2016 at 12:25 AM in 2016 Holiday Catalog Stampin' Up!, 3-D Projects, Background Stamps, Christmas, DIY, Patty's Stamping Space, Photography, Stampin' Up! cards & projects | Permalink
|
Comments (6)
Well, your work paid off because those are beautiful backgrounds for your beautiful projects! You really put a lot of time into making your blog a welcoming, fun place to visit, Patty!
Posted by: Nicole Steele | December 05, 2016 at 04:21 AM
Good morning Patty,,,,,,,, You did a wonderful job on the pine boards and lots of working making them nice........I always LOVE seeing your blog every morning..... Thanks soooo much for all you do. I can't tell you that enough...... Have a great day Patty
Posted by: Mary Ann Ely | December 05, 2016 at 07:04 AM
WOW! What a difference a little paint does. I love all the different colors. Very nice.
Posted by: Cindee Wilkinson | December 05, 2016 at 08:37 AM
What a great neighbor to give you all these back grounds to work with. That neighbor is keeper for sure. You did a super job on the wash effect. Really like them. Have a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.
Deloris
Posted by: Deloris Gilmore | December 05, 2016 at 02:01 PM
Wow, Patty, lovely distress job. I love the colours you chose and they make for a nice back drop indeed.
Posted by: Beth Norman | December 05, 2016 at 08:36 PM
Beautiful and clever re purposing and recycling! I totally love it and everything you put on there will look fantastic!
Posted by: jane harrah | December 06, 2016 at 07:48 AM