A Pearl to Celebrate A Pearl Anniversary

What a moment to have an anniversary but some light needs to shine bright in even these crazy times.

So let's celebrate the thirty years since Annie Sloan released Chalk Paint™ on a market that didn't even know it needed it at the time! But these days we can't imagine a life without it! What a fabulous gift to the decorative paint market.

Hand on heart - I have always only used Annie's paints to do my work because there was no way I could get what I want from anything else as easily as I do and without risk to my well being!

Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you!

Annie has chosen to mark this date with the release of her Pearlescent Glaze. a wickedly fun and versatile addition to her stable of colours.

So let's see what we can do with our new toy.

Work on a very stylish piece using Pearlescent Glaze
Images thanks to Annie Sloan

Pearlescent Glaze gives your work a gorgeous lustrous finish. Experiment with the colours you have in your stash to discover how it influences the finish. It does work best painted over lighter colours such as Old White as the lovely lustre seems so much stronger than on the darker colours. You can apply it over a coat of lacquer to protect your detail work  too.

A blob of Pearlescent Glaze to be going on with!

But .................

Try adding the glaze to a spot of Chalk Paint™ and watch what happens! It makes a wonderful oyster shell like lustre that gently shimmer as it catches the light. And suddenly you have an infinite colour range too! 

Once your project is finished, a coat of lacquer over the top will ensure it is nicely protected from wear and tear.

Here's a little video of what the fuss is all about!

I am still unable to supply my gorgeous customers as we have chosen to follow the Government guidlines and shut our shop door so I am really sorry for that. But you can always get what you need from ANNIE SLOAN in the meantime. But I will be back as soon as I can

Happy painting and hope you are enjoying this lovely sunny Sunday!

x Jane

Getting Hold of Paint

Are you going bonkers at home desperately finding things to paint and then not having the right colour ahhhhhhhhh an anguished cry.

A shot of one of my workshop on colour mixing at Sheldon

So two options
Put all your stash of paint on the kitchen table and experiment with what cool colours you can make by mixing two or three together. They combine beautifully and you can refer to the colour chart for combo mixes. Remember Annie designed it to resemble the colour wheel with red at the top and yellow and blue at the bottom of the triangle.

Your primary colours (from which all colours can be made) Reds and yellows together to get your own shades of orange. Reds and blues together  make lots of gorgeous lilacy colours and blues and yellows together - well wicked greens suddenly appear.
                                   

If you are lucky enough to already possess Colour Recipes then I refer you to that for hours and hours of fun playing with colour. If not I recommend popping over to the online stores and buying it!

Or
Dilute your paint with water to make a gorgeous dye for a spot of tie dye for your tired old T shirts!

Getting more adventurous? You can explore using Chalk Paint™ to develop patterns on fabric - free hand painting, stencilled patterns or experiment with folding the fabric.

Annie's oak leaf stencil applied on a curtain

A shot of my Dyeing with Chalk Paint™ workshop at Sheldon

I would love to see your work on my Instagram, Facebook page or here so do share!

Have fun in lockdown - the time will wizz by 

Bye for now and happy painting

X Jane

Please Remember ............

Lockdown Projects - Laminate Kitchens

Did you know that you can totally revamp your kitchen yourself just for the cost of the materials? Save ££££££££££s and paint yourself out of this lockdown!

Here is a nice little vid where you can see Annie in action to show you just how easy it is for you to do. And the best part - its quick too (the painting I mean not the vid!)

  See Annie at work on a demo for a laminate kitchen door

So,
# you have painted the walls with Annie's roughty toughty Wall Paint
# you have made a glorious splash back behind the cooker by painting you own design on the back of sheet of toughened glass ( so you haven't done this yet, you don't know how! I hear your cry. Well, I will be covering this on a future blog so rescue is at hand)
# you are looking at the kitchen cabinet doors and wondering ...........

Go for it.
All you need is a decent paintbrush ( I always use Annie's round ones of course!) a pot of Chalk Paint™ and a pot of Finishing Wax™ or Lacquer™

Take off the knobs, the doors can probably stay on their hinges if you don't have a screwdriver handy.
Clean down the doors to remove any residual grease and dirt. You can use diluted washing up liquid for this and then wipe down with a clean cloth.
Then just paint, perhaps two coats of Chalk Paint, careful to cover the whole surface.
Allow to dry
And this bit is very important  - protect with 2 coats of Annie Sloan Lacquer to give a secure and protected surface.
Of course, please don't use abrasive or heavy duty cleaners on the doors after. A good wipe down with a damp cloth should be ample.

Now, if you are the more adventurous type there is nothing to stop you developing this plan and using two tones of colour, or a textured finish or even a painted pattern on some if not all of the doors. Have a look on Pinterest to get some inspiration. Here is a link to my page so pop over and have a look - but do come back!

 Multi layered painting

Or even a spot of layered stencilling! 

Image courtesy of Annie Sloan

Unlike many other paints, Annie's paint penetrates the surface rather than just sticking to it and this is one of the things that gives it it's great cover anything capacity.

Sadly, I am unable to sell any paint or product just now due to the crazy time we are in but you can always zoom over to Annie's website and place an order there.

Happy painting

 X Jane
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   

Cheery News Launching April 2nd

Today I can blog about something fun in these difficult times. A bit of bling on our grey days.

Some might say bad timing but I say bring it on so we can all have something fun to do to pass the time away.
Introducing Annie Sloan's latest edition to her colour stable........................

PEARLESCENT GLAZE

I, for one, am longing to get my hands on it but I have to wait for my delivery. Yes, even stockists have to learn patience! It's big day is Thursday, just two sleeps away.

In the meantime, I can show you two cool ideas of what you can do with this magic emulsion.

So
Take 4 empty wine bottles ( guess what had to happen to get those!) a brush, some Annie Sloan Chalk Paint™ some Annie Sloan Pearlescent Glaze™ and a spot of Annie Sloan Clear Lacquer™  - that's all you need to make these cool candlesticks!

Method
Paint the entire outside of your wine bottle with the colour of your choice. Once dry, cover with a coat of Pearlescent Glaze and enjoy what happens when you play the light on it.
For an even cooler effect you can experiment with different colour base coats and even adding a tad of Chalk Paint to the Pearlescent Glaze to give it an intense lustre.
So many luscious colour effects  that make a playful addition to these long  days - see how cute.

On a more serious note - Technical bla bla

Available in tins of 250ml. Each tin will cover approximately 6m², coverage is 24m² per litre depending on surface and application.

For detailed work apply Chalk Paint® Lacquer over Chalk Paint® before applying Pearlescent Glaze. This ensures that the entire piece of furniture is protected. Alternatively, use Chalk Paint® Wax after applying Pearlescent Glaze details, but please note this will dull the opalescence of finish.

Drying time is approximately 2 hours depending on conditions. Pearlescent Glaze is not suitable for outdoor use.

Let me share this gorgeous chest of drawers that has been painted with Pearlescent Glaze over Chalk Paint to imitate a beautiful inlay finish. Don't you just love it?

This wonderful piece was designed and created by Dominique Malarcarne - congratulations it's super


For more info and how to apply the glaze go to Annie's website and you will find a whole fact sheet to get you going.

So that was the good news . The bad news is that you have to wait til Thursday that's April 2nd to place your order! but here is the link to do so 
I am so sorry you can't pop into Sheldon Paint and chat with me about this exciting new toy, but we have had to close the shop temporarily as you know :(   So no more sales from me for the time being. I wish I could be there so we could play with it together but hey ho self isolation means we are all at our own kitchen tables working away in solitary confinement.

Do let me know what you are up to on the painting front. I am still active on our Facebook and Instagram page so keep in touch.