Buffalo Plaid Technique- Painting it is Easier than it Looks!

I am in love with buffalo plaid. Is it popular in your area? I am especially obsessed in painting it. Yes, painting it!

Some time ago, I came across a photo tutorial for painting buffalo plaid from an online painting friend, Sara, of Surrey Lane Home. Sara does absolutely gorgeous work and is so good to share many of her techniques.

I always thought it would be a very difficult process, but Sara’s tutorial made it very easy to do.

All I needed was something to paint, my Missouri Limestone Paint Company Chalk-style paint (MLPC) that we sell and use to paint, some Varathane water-based Crystal clear polyurethane/Wise Owl Lemon Verbena Salve (I use both a sealer like the Varathane polyurethane or a wax like the Wise Owl brand or Howard Chalk-tuque wax on my projects) and some 1 or 2″ green frog tape and I was set!

First, I needed Sara’s tutorial:

https://www.facebook.com/601667673314480/posts/1147567842057791/

Then, I painted my pieces by following her tutorial. I used a chip brush and did a dry brush effect on the lighter black areas for my projects.

Here’s my first attempt. For this project, which was a small set of two storage boxes, I used the 2″ green frog tape.

This is the only before pic I had of this project as I couldn’t wait to get started and forgot to take a pic of both boxes before. Oops!

Here they are completed! I sealed this with Wise Owl Lemon Verbena Salve.

For my second project, I had a jewelry box. I decided I wanted to give it a rustic, red/black lumberjack look and completely transform it from jewelry box to a storage container, too.

Here’s the before:

I had to get rid of the bright yellow lining first – in all those drawers! That was a big job!

Then, I used Missouri Limestone Paint Company Chalk-Style paint in Coal Shovel mixed with a bit of water to do a color wash over the whole box, except for the top.

For the top, I used Radio Flyer Red. I used the 1″ green frog tape on this one also. I then used Sara’s tutorial and Coal Shovel paint to produce this beautiful box! This one I waxed with Wise Owl Lemon Verbena salve.

And my latest project is one I am truly proud of. I transformed a set of nesting tables. The result was amazing. I was eager to share the evening ai finished them so I posted on my Facebook page and mentioned they would be available as soon as I had sealed them. They sold locally overnight, before I had a chance to stage and post them for sale on any online buy/sell sites. I sealed them right then! 🙂

The transformation. MLPC Coal Shovel and January. For this nesting table set, I used the 2″ green frog tape. It is sealed with Varathane Polyurethane.