Seeing Red

I'm usually quite a blue girl.  I don't know if it is my love for the ocean, but I could happily paint every room in my house and all the furniture varying shades of blue.  I'm aware that not everyone loves blue as much as I do, so I'm trying to mix things up.  Today, I'm seeing red (but in a good way).  :)

After

This mirror is feisty, fiery and strong.  But there is more to this red than meets the eye.  Perhaps, you want to see what this mirror looked like before:

Before

A honey pine.  Quite orange in color.  Not a nice white pine that has been white washed.  That my have been pretty.  As it was, you probably wouldn't have looked twice at it.  Am I right?  It is super ugly. Okay, we agree.

So, I started first with a coat of ASCP graphite, a near black.  

I put it on quite thick and uneven.  I wanted an uneven surface for the second color I was going to do.

Getting down and dirty with Graphite:

Once that dried, I did a coat of Emperor's Silk.  You may remember that I used it on my Sail Away Pillows:

On the pillows it is quite a bright, cheerful red.  Great on nautical prints.  Also was fantastic on the Union Flag stripes.  But I wanted a deeper red, a wine, pinot noir red.  Perhaps, I've been having the odd glass here and there once the kids have gone to bed.  Just thought that color red might make this mirror a little bit classy.

This was taken while the paint was still drying

Close up of top:

You can see bits of black and uneven surface shining through the red.  And here is the final piece with a coat of clear wax.  

What do you think?  Are you seeing red too?

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