Wood Imitation Clock (2014)

For about 3 years I'm following a course of "wood and marble imitation".
Of which some examples are found here: Wood and marble imitation post.

Normally we do our exercises on a flat piece of board. Which is nice, but it can be used for many other purposes.
As an example I made a white clock border look like an antique walnut root wood one:

Finished piece

Original clock with the white border.

Clock painted with an orange base.

Because this is part of my specialty I can't give you the precise way to make it, since I hope to get a job with it one day.

But here are the basics:
To start of I gave the clock an orange base coating. This is the color we use to paint walnut wood on. If you would like f.e. oak wood, the color would be more beige, while f.e. mahogany has a more red like orange base.

After that I used a water base paint; pigments combined with water, wallpaper glue and a tiny drop of a component that will stick the pigments to the surface when the water evaporates.
This layer will hold most of the detail of the wood; f.e. knots and the wood grain.
When it all dried up I applied another layer which is an oil based mixture. If you'd use a water based paint again, you'd brush off the layer underneath.
This layer will add more color and depth to your piece.
You call it finished after this 2nd layer, but we decided to give it some more shades and such.
Therefor we let it dry once more and applied a 2nd oil based layer of paint.
To finish it off I applied 2 layers of varnish.

The ring was painted with some metallic water based paint and finished with a layer of gold shoe polish.

Detailed view of the ring and upper piece.

Detailed few of the bottom side of the border.

Garbage Bin Flower Pots (2014)

One day I was browsing through a store and found small plastic garbage bins on sale. I bought 2 of them to make a nice flower pot out of it.

Finished garbage bin

The bins come in several colors; green, blue and pink. I got 2 green ones and spray painted them black.

After 2 coatings, making sure everything was covered I dry brushed some silver paint over it.

Finished bin

Original bin

Spray painted bin

Then it was a matter of putting a small plant with a fitting innerpot inside and it's done.
A quick and easy project.

Side note: You could how ever add some orange, brown colors near the edges to give it a rusty effect.