This Fairy Garden Class post will be split between two projects that represent what a little paint job can do. A little paint and a little patience can go a long way in saving you money and beautifying your garden.
This fairy garden lawn decoration was given to me by my daughter a few years ago. Due to it being made of metal and being in my garden with the natural elements, it unfortunately became rusted. One day I'd finally had it with looking at the colorless decoration and took it as an opportunity to share with My Fairy Folks how to turn an eyesore into a completely new item!
First, clean your item very well. There's no sense in painting something that is dirty because then the paint won't be able to evenly coat the item. I had a plan in my mind, but if you need to draw out a plan or make notes to remember your plans, feel free to do so. For this project I needed to purchase a few things.
- painter's tape
- spray paint
- acrylic paint (for small details)
I was lucky enough to already have some spray paint in the colors I wanted to use so that brought my cost down a bit. After my item is clean and dry and I have laid out some protection for the surrounding work surface, I sprayed the entire piece with a white spray to act as an even base coat. Patience is definitely a big player in this game, especially if your working area is outdoors in the elements. Wind and rain make it hard to work on a project that involves spray paint and paint of any kind needs time to dry, so be sure you don't have a tight deadline for your project. Also, be sure the paint you are using is appropriate for your medium. My fairy decoration is made of metal so the paint I bought was Rust-oleum brand which is good for wood, metal and plastic.
After being sure the paint was dry, I used my painter's tape to tape off sections that I wanted to be different colors and proceeded to spray paint those sections. Be sure your painter's tape is pushed completely flat so no color strays. And again... patience.
Lastly, once all the paint has dried, I can add detail. Through a little trial and error, I decided that acrylic paint was the way to go for details. Below you can see the details that were added on with the acrylic paint.
While I had sprayed the white base on both sides of the fairy, I only added color to one side, deciding that the other side would be in different colors, giving the illusion that the fairy had two sets of clothes that I could alternate between.
I realize that this garden decoration is something not all of you will already have, so I also did another paint job with some items that might be easier for you to get your hands on.
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I began with an urn that was given to me by a friend. It is made of plastic but with the right paint, can be made to look like the real thing. I also grabbed two terra cotta pots that were less than $1 each. If you're into gardening and see terra cotta pots at the dollar store, you'd better grab them up because there is always a use for them. Since I already had the white spray paint from the previous project, I used that.
After a good cleaning and covering my workspace, I sprayed each item with paint and let it dry. Pretty simple. And the rest is also pretty simple and has been explained in previous classes; small rocks, potting mix, plant the flora and water thoroughly. Putting the three containers together in my garden makes them pop.
As an after thought, I'd like to apologize for this class post being late. My schedule and Mother Nature's wind and rain clashed this past month making painting outdoors difficult. If you have any questions, feel free to comment here or contact me via email.
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