Ribbon Storage - Vintage Style!

Hello all! I am still organising and this time it is the turn of my ribbon stash (or at least some of it!) This unit is again from Stamps Away (Clevercut), and is available in different configurations. This one is a double loose ribbon rack. I have also purchased a 'Reel Wheel', but have not decorated this yet!

As usual, the unit came flat-packed and was very easy to put together. As before, I used decorators' filler to fill the joins in the MDF, sanded it back where needed and made the edges even and smooth.

The next step was to paint the entire unit with black gesso and let dry. I then drew on one of Andy Skinner's brilliant techniques using hair clay: I added some to the areas I wanted to be able to expose later on (the clay will stop the top layer of paint I use from sticking down).

 

With the clay in place, I then painted the entire unit again, this time with DecoArt Chalky Finish Paint in Lace. I also painstaking painted each of the ribbon holders with the same colour (this was the worst bit!)

Now to decorate! I used the border from PaperArtsy Stencil PA050 across some of the edges to tie them all in, some of the wording from PS049 and the 'Paris France' logo from a Creative Expressions Stencil. I used Relic DecoArt Chalky Finish for the stencilling, as this gave a nice dark, but not black, effect.

With the stencil detail in place, I was then able to experiment with some of the gorgeous 7 Gypsies 'Inspire' Parchment Rub-ons. I cut out lots of the sewing themed images and text and then randomly applied them all over the unit. 

Once I started applying the images, I realised that there was going to be quite a few areas that would be peeled away, so I took a cloth and then rubbed all over the unit until the areas with wax underneath were exposed. I then finished adding some more rub-ons and also stamped a few sewing themed images with Archival Ink.

There we have it, one finished ribbon storage holder! I am really pleased with it, even though I know most of the decoration won't be seen, I know it's there!

Thanks for reading,

Martina

xxx