I recently purchased an art supply chest, using a Dick Blick gift card.
Deciding that the chest looked too plain for me, I opted for collaging the
exterior of the wood box.
Chest, on the day of delivery (below).
Supplies are gathered. An old music book (gift from a friend), a thick tablet of
cheerful scrapbooking paper, and Elmer’s glue.
The scrapbooking paper was torn into small pieces, as were some pages from
the music book. I did not sand or prepare the outside of the wood box in any way.
I did remove the tray from inside the box just to get it out of the way. I started to
apply the paper pieces using a brush and glue. Initially, I added the paper
in a scattered, random fashion. Then I filled in empty spaces. I glued pieces up
to the edges of the box lid and bottom, trimming with scissors to get straight
edges where needed. Pieces were overlapped to fill in empty spots and to go
around corners. The raw paper edges add interest!
Once I had the whole box covered with collage and the glue had dried, I coated it
with Delta Dreamcoat Gloss Varnish. I applied a second layer of varnish the next day.
Below: finished box, ready to travel to its first art workshop!
