The Crafted Palette: My Take on a Vintage Coffee Ad

As you all know, I LOVE vintage signs and ads. I just can't help it,

I find the workmanship, colours and designs beautiful...and the best part is that most of them are hand drawn and painted.

I truly would have loved to have a bird's eye view of these artists while they worked :)

Today, I will show you a fantastic, yet simple coffee ad (above) and how I re-imagined it for my own coffee table.

I hope you enjoy :)

I love the sepia tones on this ad, it reminds me of a coffee spill which is really smart of the original artist.

That's a great way to subliminally speak about your subject :)

Kind of like a steaming cup of hot chocolate with marshmallows makes you think of a cold winter day.

The first step I took was to create my text.

The "C", as you can see from the original ad is different from the rest of the text, so for now I only had to work on the "O', "F", "E", number 5, cent symbol and my cup.

I placed my original text on a colourful background to make it more visible for you :)

As you can see below, I only drew a half of a cup with a handle and then took it into PHOTOSHOP to create the other half and set the handle in place.

Here is the finished cup and saucer

Here it is again in all white

Below are the steps I took to complete the project.

1. As you can see from the first 3 images below, I had a bit of work to do before I could paint anything. I had to sand the surface very well to remove all of the previous finish.

2. Then, I asked hubby to help me draw an oval. (you can't see this because it's in pencil)

He drew 2 huge intersecting circles for me and I was going to connect them and create an oval shape like the original...but I decided to create a faux marquetry work design instead as you will see.

NOTE: MARQUETRY; inlaid work of variously colored woods or other materials, especially

in furniture.

Here is an example of actual marquetry work

3. I drew in the large letter "C" freehand, and using my text templates that I drew earlier (printed onto card stock and cut out) , I traced them onto the table where I wanted them...along with the number 5, the cent symbol and the coffee cup.

4. Then I painted them in white.

5. Then I start creating rings around the circles using different shades of paint that simulate different wood colours (Faux marquetry work)

Once I had the shades of wood that I wanted, I scuffed it up with a bit of sandpaper to make it look old but still being careful not to scratch the finish off.

6. The last thing I had to do to complete the painting itself was the coffee cup...I deliberately left this until last so I could get it just right :)

First, I painted in the coffee and even added little bubbles in the brew, just like when you pour a fresh cup in the morning :)

7. Then I added shadow detail to the cup and saucer

8. The best part is the steam...you can't have a hot cup of coffee without steam.

This is achieved by diluting your white paint until it's almost clear...you have to play around to get the consistency just right (have a sample board ready so you can test it).

You then paint your steam in and wipe it off, being careful to follow the shape you created.

You can repeat this step if you want parts of the steam spiral to appear more opaque than others.

9. Then, you must always sign your work :)

10. When I finished the painting, I applied 8 coats of varathane to the surface for protection.

The rest of the pictures are of the finished table top.

An interesting side note: My brother Dan and his wife were visiting just after I finished the table and she said the circles reminded her of coffee ring stains :)

I was amazed...I hadn't thought of that!!!

I was so happy about what she said because without realizing it, I had created the thing I spoke of at the beginning of the post...I had found a way to subliminally speak about my subject matter.