I'm currently working on a vanity/desk that has some really delicious beachy colours included in it's palette. I had originally painted the handles in Cottage Paint "White" mixed with "Cottage White" to give them just the barest hint of a off white colour and was going to seal them and be done with it. We were at the cottage this past week and while wading in the water, I found an open clam shell shining in the lake. I picked it up and admired the pearl, blue and green colours, shimmering and sparkling inside the shell. I brought the shell home for inspiration and decided that I wanted to try and replicate the look on the hardware for this beach style piece. (Although there was some shimmering gold in the shell, and Cottage Paint does have a divine Iridescent Gold, the rest of my piece is in cooler colours so I wanted to keep everything in a cooler palette.)
I had previously purchased some Cottage Paint Iridescent Pearl wax and had been given the Iridescent Blue and Iridescent Green waxes during my visit to the Cottage Paint show room, and thought they would be the perfect medium to get the look that I wanted!
I started waxing the handles and realized it would be a great opportunity to shoot a quick video on how to get the "clam shell" look with these waxes, as well as take some photos. Click here to find the video: https://www.facebook.com/thepainteddoorrestorations/videos/2075041855879723/?timeline_context_item_type=intro_card_work&timeline_context_item_source=762997382&fref=tag
I'm going to go through, step by step to show you how I finished these pretty, pearly handles and I encourage you to pick up the waxes and try different looks out!
I apologize before hand - I do not have a professional camera. All I've got is my smart phone and some editing programs. You can't see the stunning colours in the photos even half as well as you can in real life so again, I encourage you to check the products out in person!
The handles that I was using weren't really that dirty, so I didn't bother giving them a crazy cleaning - just a light wipe was fine. (If there is heavy tarnishing, you will need to clean them properly and possibly use the Cottage Paint Primer to stop any tarnish from coming through.
1. I mixed Cottage Paint "White" and "Cottage Paint" together to get a white that had just the barest hint of "off white" to it. I don't really have a measurement - I just mixed until I was happy with the colour. I painted two to three coats of the colour onto the handles (just depending on how it covered,) making sure each coat had dried before applying the next.
2. After the paint had dried, I used Cottage Paint's Flat Varnish to seal them. (The wax is a great sealer for projects that will have light use, but handles can sometimes get a little abused, so I wanted some extra protection.)
Next came the fun part - The Iridescent Waxes!!
3. I chose to start my "clam shell" look, with a base wax of "Iridescent Pearl." I wanted the handles to have an over all "pearly" feel and this is the perfect colour for that. I lightly dabbed my brush into the wax - you don't need a lot! Seriously, a little goes a long way! I then painted the wax onto the handles and allowed it to dry.
4. After the wax was completely dry, I got out my Iridescent Green jar and lightly dabbed it into the wax. Again, a little goes a long way!
I didn't want to completely cover the handle the way I had with the Pearl wax, so I just lightly dabbled the green all over the handle in random places. Once I was happy with how much green was on the handle, I let that dry completely.
5. Once the green wax had dried, I got out my pretty pretty jar of Iridescent Blue. I again lightly dabbed my brush in the wax and dabbled it onto the handle until I was happy with how it looked and allowed it to dry.
And that's it! The handles are ready to be put back onto the drawers as soon as the rest of the piece is finished!
So there you have it - a quick but really unique way to spice up the hardware of your piece!
As I have said many times in this blog post, don't take my photos as proof - check the waxes out yourself. You won't be disappointed!