Custom Chalk Painting and Etsy Synchronicity

Thought I’d share what project I’ve been working on.

Recently, an Etsy jewelry artist requested my painting skills. Pam, of Torchbabe (great name), is currently preparing for a large, juried artisan show in Wisconsin, and needed custom displays for her jewelry pieces. This has been an enjoyable occurrence of synchronicity, because she purchased displays from 2 other Etsians, then had them sent to me, to work my chalk paint magic on them. Once I was finished with them, I would then ship them to Pam.

Pam is truly an artist. Torchbabe is apropos, because she creates her jewelry pieces from scratch, cutting and working the metal herself. Pretty cool, eh? Visit her shop Here.

Here are two of her creations:

One display style she chose was a tiered set of bamboo stands. These will be used for her bracelets. She purchased them from the Etsy shop LastSummerTreasures. These are normally sold with a bamboo stem, but Pam had them assembled with copper pipe she sent them, for a custom look to tie in with her jewelry’s patina.

Here is what they looked like before I painted them:

And now, the after:

Given my typical chalk paint style, no arm-twisting was required to come up with a color combination that would showcase and coordinate Pam’s jewelry pieces.

This is the first time I’ve used chalk paint on bamboo, and I love how it turned out.

The distressing went well. I could have even gone further, but there were already so many colors, that I only revealed the natural bamboo in tiny doses.

The first paint layer was black, with some brown added to warm it up. Next layer is Rust, then Red, then Moss, and finally the deep Turquoise/Teal color.

Of course, it wouldn’t be complete without clear and dark wax. So far, I’ve only used Briwax with the chalkpaint, and I’ve been happy with the results. I still want to try out some of the more expensive brands, but since I can purchase the Briwax locally, and not have to pay a shipping charge, I'm quite satisfied.

I love how these displays turned out so much, that I just couldn’t stop taking pictures of them.

These look great with a dark or bright background. Awesome!

I didn’t have any of Pam’s jewelry for the shots, so I took a couple with some brass jewelry I had on hand.

What a perfect marriage. The jewelry enhances the stands, and the stands enhance the jewelry.

I will post pictures with Pam’s creations on the displays, after her show in July. Can’t wait to see how they look together. I also painted a ring case she purchased, but Pam still needs to put her touches on it, so I’ll show pictures of that, after her show, as well.

I’ve really enjoyed doing custom paint work for a fellow Etsian, especially with someone as sweet and talented as Pam of Torchbabe. You can love what you do, but if you’re not doing it with the right people, you don’t love it anymore. I am grateful that she sought me out, because we were right for each other.

Thank you Pam!

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