Altered Angels by Judi Kauffman for The Queen’s Ink

A friend gave me six cute 7” tall wooden angel ornaments that she no longer wanted. I politely thanked her, tucked them away for a few years, and forgot about them till a recent clean-up. Because ‘cute’ isn’t my style, I thought it would be fun to alter the angels with paint and pens, giving them a very different look!

Here’s the ‘before’ shot:

I pried the star off of one of them. Here’s how she looks after her makeover:

I turned another upside down, moved the eye hook, and made her into a bird:

YOUR TURN:

What do you have that could benefit from a total re-do? If the answer is ‘not a thing’ then head to a yard sale, thrift shop, or ask a crafty friend to share some of her unused stuff.

Can you flip the item around and turn it into something new? Think outside of the box!

HOW TO:

1. Paint the surface of whatever you’re altering. A base coat of gesso and a coat or two of acrylic paint should do the trick.

2. Trace around the shape and sketch some ideas on paper before you commit. Or if you’re feeling fearless and confident draw straight onto the painted surface without any pre-planning.

3. Use paint pens or paint and fine brushes. Doodle and alter your ________ (angel, star, circle, mask, whatever….). Stop at intervals, get away from the project so you can come back with fresh eyes and see if you need to keep going or if it’s DONE.

4. Keep going until you are content with the project. If you add too much and aren’t happy, paint over whatever you’ve done, sand the surface a bit and start again!

SUPPLIES:

• Acrylic paints
• Gesso
• Paint pens in black, white, metallic gold, copper, orange or colors of choice
• Wooden shapes to paint