The Crafted Palette: Memories Are A Powerful Thing...The Vintage Toy Box

Maybe it's a song, a simple phrase, an image or even food that you hear, see or smell...and it instantly transports you back through time to that pure moment of bliss when you first experienced it.

For me, it's many things...

For instance, whenever I see Superman on a movie cover or poster, I am instantly brought back to 1979...

There I am at the age of six, lying on the floor with my shiny green and gold pillow that mom made, colouring in my gigantic SUPERMAN colouring book while carefully selecting the crayons from the box to match the colours on the cover.

Then, there's the music...I can fondly recall the music that played in our house all the time, and I still love it today!

My mom even listened to Pink Floyd.
I remember hearing the words "Hey Teacher...Leave those kids Alone", and how funny I used to think it was.

Then of course we have programs on TV...
My first language was French, I say WAS because I can no longer speak it fluently...although I will relearn it at some point in the near future.

Passe-Partout is the earliest TV memory that I have.

Now for some English programs that I absolutely LOVED...

I remember watching the ROMPER ROOM and thinking that the teacher could actually see kids in that mirror she used...really funny to think about when you're a child, but really creepy to think about now!

Of course Sesame Street was one of the best shows out there, and still is!

I loved Oscar the Grouch, Bert and definitely the Cookie Monster.

The programs that I found the most enjoyable though are...drum role please!

The Friendly Giant "Look up, way up!"

I used to imagine myself sitting in one of the little chairs the Giant set up by the fire...and I loved Jerome the giraffe.

Finally, the most inspiring show of all for me had to be...

This of course was way back before Truffles was ever thought about...Mr Dressup's sidekicks were Casey and Finnigan then.

I remember hoping that he would draw pictures at his easel, or get dressed up in something funny from the "TICKLE TRUNK".

Even way back then I was extremely interested in art.

All of the above is a trip down memory lane to show where my inspiration comes from.

Now onto the post.

This post is to showcase my new project..."THE VINTAGE TOY BOX".

Last year, I decided to draw some pictures with the intent to offer a colouring book online...the vintage toy box came about at the same time.

So after drawing and colouring in the preliminary image, I had to wait until I found the perfect wooden box to bring the drawing to life on.

Here is an image of the preliminary drawing.

Keep in mind that the finished project will look quite different, although all of the details I used are from this image but arranged differently.

The image above, was created last January. I had to wait until two weeks ago to find the perfect wooden box.

Here it is.

Beautiful, isn't it? It's made of solid birch...PERFECT to paint on.

Now I get busy...I get my preliminary drawing out, and a bunch of online images for text and so on to create my final working copy.

This is what the NEW drawing looks like.

See, all the elements are in the original...just rearranged.

Here it is coloured in with markers.

A close-up of the center.

Here, I have a 4 step image of the toy box that I coloured in PHOTOSHOP.

The final piece actually has white lettering on the top and a white ring around the center image.

Now I will List the PROJECT STEPS

FIRST THINGS FIRST:

find solid wood box with lid
buy screw-hole buttons (better known as wood plugs)
preliminary drawing

NOW, LET'S GET STARTED

the birch box was unfinished, so no sanding was required
painted the exterior of the box black...not including the lid. (pencil lines appear better on black, and it will add to the vintage look of the finished piece)
measured to make uniform stripes down the sides of the box, making sure that each edge and the center of each panel has a wider stripe of red
created templates out of thin cardboard for my center image details
drew in the center image
because the background is black, I did underpainting on this project...meaning, I applied a thin coat of paint to each item in the painting so that the final paint colour would appear more vivid
completed the painting using all acrylic paint
painted in the oval border in white
painted all the white stripes
painted all the red stripes
I then wrapped all the stripes up onto the top edge of the box with paint. NOTE: I DID NOT use tape for my stripes, so they do appear slightly irregular...but that only adds to the vintage look
I created cardboard cutouts of the word "TOYS", using a vintage style text type for the top of the box
I traced the letters onto the top, and painted them in black
I apply two coats of white to the letters leaving a fine black edge all around each letter
I created a stain with some artist acrylic paint in burnt umber and some water
using a rag rather than a brush, I rubbed a thin coat of stain to the box...not over the center painting, but all over the stripes to add age
I applied three coats of the stain to the entire lid, even over the letters...giving the appearance of a light walnut stain
I added the wooden screw-hole buttons to cover all the screws and painted them red because I didn't like the original wood finish...it seemed too stark and unfinished to leave them plain
I applied two coats of GLOSS acrylic sealer to the box
I applied 3 coats of GLOSS acrylic sealer to the lid