IKEA ART CADDY

 Nothing is impossible, 

 the word itself says 

 'I'm possible'! 

 -Audrey Hepburn 

 Guest Post 

Last October, I was privileged to be featured as a guest poster on Julie Fei-Fen Balzer's blog. It was a dream come true for me and an incredible opportunity. Today I'm sharing that post on my blog. 

 Upcycle 

I had acquired the glass holder from IKEA when, surprise!, I bought some glasses. When I got home, I decided to keep the carrier to do something with it in The Studio. The result was what you see - an upcycled IKEA glass holder to hold art supplies. Another plus - the glass holder was free!

 Before 

 Supplies: 

IKEA cardboard carrier used for carrying glasses or plates
Liquitex Professional gesso
Liquitex Professional matte medium
Liquitex BASICS acrylic paints- titanium white, mars black, medium magenta, brilliant purple, light blue permanent, cerulean blue hue, bright aqua green, cadmium orange hue
Americana paint- citron green
Anita’s All Purpose Craft paint- ripe apricot
paintbrushes, scissors
white tissue paper – inexpensive, non-glossy
book text – dictionary pages, etc.
washi tape
various stencils – I used Dina Wakley’s Mini Favorites, Tim Holtz Bubble, Dylusions Letter Jumble, The Crafter’s Workshop (TCW) 12 x 12 Art Deco Leaves, The Crafter’s Workshop (TCW) Balzer Bits Circled Face, Art Foamies Writer’s Block
cosmetic sponges
black duct tape
Stabilo All pencil
words or a phrase from a magazine

Step 1: To begin, I gessoed the cardboard using Liquitex Professional gesso on the outside and the handle section down into the carrier, but not inside the carrier because it wasn't going to be seen. After gessoing, I began painting the body of the caddy using the medium magenta, brilliant purple, light blue permanent, cerulean blue hue, and bright aqua green. There was no set pattern or plan when painting; I just made sure to overlap the colors and keep turning my brush to get irregularly shaped paint sections.

Step 2: After the paint was dry, I added irregularly torn pieces of dictionary text and washi tape a little below the middle of the body of the carrier using the matte medium. I painted matte medium on the carrier, lay down the text and tape, then painted matte medium over both to make sure they wouldn’t come unglued later. 

Step 3: Next, I added details with stencils. Starting with the titanium white paint and the middle stencil of the Dina Wakley Mini Favorites, I stenciled the four sides of the body. I varied the position of the stencil around the sides of the carrier. After that, I stenciled the lime green paint and the other two Mini Favorites all around the carrier.

Step 4: After that, I applied mars black paint with a cosmetic sponge on the Dylusions Letter Jumble stencil to the body of the carrier. I made sure to vary the effect by turning the stencil, using different parts of the stencil, even applying the stencil upside down.

Step 5: On one side of the handle, I stenciled the TCW Art Deco Leaves with orange paint. After drying that, I laid the Dylusions Letter Jumble on the handle and then lined the Art Deco Leaves over the top of that stencil, “sandwiching” the Letter Jumble between the Art Deco Leaves and the cardboard. Then I applied black paint and in this way, the stenciling appears only on the orange lines.

Step 6: On the other side of the handle, I used a different technique by spraying the Letter Jumble stencil with a mixture of 50-50 acrylic paint and water, spraying that with water, and then “stamping” the stencil onto the handle several times. (You can also spritz the carrier with water so it bleeds down.) I dried this.

Step 7: I use tissue paper frequently in my art work. For this project, I used tissue paper that I had previously blotted spray inks with. I love to apply these little pops of color the same way I applied the text and washi tape. By applying the matte medium and laying the tissue paper over that, the tissue appears to melt into the cardboard.

Step 8: At the top of one side of the caddy, I added an orange drip for extra color. I loaded up my brush with diluted paint and let it slide down the edge of the carton.

Step 9: Using a brayer, I inked Julie’s Writer’s Block Art Foamie with white paint and applied that all over. It is a good way to tone down the black, or to cover up where the paint seeped through or where the stencil slipped.

Step 10: I stenciled TCW’s Circled Face Balzer Bits onto a piece of dictionary text. After drying it, I cut it out and glued it to the front of the caddy using matte medium. I use a lot of magazine words which allows me to have interesting sayings and/or fonts in my work. I attached the words “Press Play” with the matte medium and dried it. Next, I outlined the saying with a Stabilo All pencil, and painted over the black lines with a slightly wet paint brush to get a grungy, smeared look. To reinforce the cardboard, I added black duct tape on the bottom and around the handle. 

Step 11: Finally, the art caddy transformation was complete. Now all I had to do was add some art supplies and get ready for people to ask where I bought that super cool art caddy for my studio. I hope you’ve enjoyed this post and will join me every Tuesday and Friday for more blog posts at arteverydaystudio.blogspot.com.

Art in the Studio makes every day a good day. 

Thanks for spending time with ArtEveryDayStudio!