Painted Lamp Shade, Painted Mirror

What do you do with a lamp shade that is faded or has water stains?  You could throw it out.

But if you are like me and hate to throw out something that is still performing its function but just in an ugly way, you could put fabric over it, add pieces fabric to it, or you could paint it.

I opted for the paint after playing around with fabric for a while.

I didn't really plan my project.  I was just doing what came to me when I started painting this shade.  I brought out some of the highlighting colors from our basement which was mostly shades of brown but with light touches of orange, baby blue, maroon, yellow and green.

I camouflaged the water stains on the shade with the paint.  The shade was white and I used that as my canvas and didn't paint over all of it. I liked how when the light is on, the colors glow and the outlines of the design show up dramatically.

On the mirror frame, I repainted it over a previously painted project I'd done with my daughter when she was little and we lived in a funky row house in Baltimore where we'd painted the exposed water pipes in multicolored stripes and the stair risers too (pictures will come when and if I find them).

When my daughter saw me repainting the old mirror frame she was disappointed.  I hadn't realized how much it had meant to her that we'd painted it together.  So that was a bittersweet moment.

I will also have to post the painted hand mirrors that my daughter and I used to paint for a friend's store in the Fells Point area of Baltimore, called Funky Fish.  We painted dozens of them, and even named them.

Here is the mirror.  And if you look close into the mirror you can see the lamp reflected.

 I sanded down the paint from my daughter's and my previous work and painted off white over the entire thing.  Then I just went with a theme, and colors, that I used on the lamp.

My Friend's Functional Folking Art

I wish more people would use ordinary, everyday items as art. Functional Folking Art. Here are pictures of my friend's canned goods. They are beautiful, beautifully displayed. It is folking art. 

Folking Garden Art - Musical Scarecrows

My girlfriend in North Carolina uses old CD's as scarecrows in her garden, rather than the traditional stuffed human effigies.  I like these better.  They sparkle in the sunlight, reflecting all kinds of surprising colors.  They have a wonderful charm.  I imagine their music and hear it playing in this private little spot, a clearing in the woods. I wonder if it would be even more helpful to add more CD's to the point where they become wind chimes?  So we have real music instead of imaginary music.  I've heard that wind chimes keep birds at bay.

Folking Yarn Vases

I didn't make these - I'm just folking appreciating them.  I saw them at Fantastic Finds in Newton, NC, a great funky, folky place where folk artists and crafties can sell their creations.  

I'm assuming these vases were done by wrapping the yard around actual vases or cups by putting some kind of sticky substance on the cups.  Pretty cool. 

An Old Ladder Top and Folking Screws and Bolts

This is another Folking Art Appreciation blog.  I didn't create this sweet little "Home" homage.  This sign sits on the front porch bench at a friend's wonderfully welcoming house in North Carolina in the foothills to my beloved Appalachians.  

My friend didn't make the sign either, though she is a folking artist in her own right.  I believe she purchased it at a store crowded with funky and folky creations called Fantastic Finds, in Newton, NC. 

This sign says HOME and is made from the top of an old, wooden ladder, rusted on the metal edges with a nice patina.  The word is made from old bolts and screws. 

I love how creative people think. I love how people can see something others don't.  I love being one of the people that appreciates this and sometimes sees things as well.  

Folking Bird Houses

I love buying plane wooden birdhouses from Michaels Arts and Crafts and painting them.  Here are some that I painted with my grandson. I paint them with craft paints, using the outdoor paints, then spray them with a glossy clear finish to help preserve them against the element.