After:
Let's start with what the baskets looked like before... Ignore all the junk on my table :-) lol I'm lucky enough to find unfinished baskets at my Goodwill. They have not been stained or finished in any way. I'm going to say cautiously that the painted part of this tutorial will work on previously stained or painted baskets. The staining part I'm not so sure unless you just want to make any paint already on it appear darker. You may need to sand them a little to give the new stain something to adhere to. If it is already stained only you may be able to put another stain on top to darken it. I don't know I haven't done it. :-/ You will need something to cover your work surface. VERY IMPORTANT!!!! I use old shower curtains.
You all know I share my mistakes as well as what actually turns out. This first paint test was a first for me. I used paint (an oops paint for $.50 at Lowe's it's a gray color) sea salt and water. I know what you're thinking... sea salt???? yep I wanted to see if I could get a texture in the paint and since I didn't have sand on hand to try I used this. So what I did was I poured a little paint in my bowl added about 1 tbsp of sea salt and water to thin it down.
You want the paint to be slightly runny so that it flows when painted on your basket. This way it flows into the crevices. When I painted it I lined it with paper towels because I didn't want to paint the inside. I wanted to stain it. In this pic you can see the sea salt texture. I probably should have added more sea salt. Oh well live and learn. This is only one layer of paint. I wanted these to look old so it's easier to sand with only one coat.
I'll show you how I finished it at the end because it'll make more sense after I tell you how to mix up the stain.
OK. Let's move on to the next basket.
These are the supplies: Regular liquid stain I used dark walnut on this one (I've tried gel stain and it is very difficult to use) a glass jar (save any old glass jar from pickles, jam, or whatever) paint thinner and a brush (don't use foam brushes the paint thinner eats it yep learned that too) lol I forgot to show rubber gloves!!!! It'll keep your hands from being stained too. Please use stain in a well ventilated space!!!!
You will need to pour some stain in your glass jar. Eye ball it for the size of project you have. Then add a couple tbsp paint thinner to the stain. This is what waters it down to flow in the crevices. Water will not work!!!! Make sure you stir your mixture.
Next just use your brush and brush the stain mixture on your basket. I stained the entire inside and out.
The final basket I used the same technique as above only I used Early American Minwax liquid stain. I think I really prefer this color!!! It's the one in the middle. You can sort of see the color difference. These will take a day or two to dry because of the stain.
Alright now let's finish the first gray basket. I used the left over Early American stain and an old sock and rubbed it on the basket to darken the sanded wood spots and paint. I rub very lightly because I didn't want it too dark. I also used this method to stain the inside of this basket.
After looking at the really dark one I decided I didn't like it so I tried painting over top of the stain after it was completely dry. Here I mixed blue latex paint and water to thin it down.
Shew much better... As I painted I used a paper towel to rub off some of the paint so it wasn't so thick. I didn't paint the inside. I left it stained. After the paint dried I sanded and restained it with the dark walnut using my sock method.
Here they are all finished again. I accidentally got some blue paint on the inside oh well. :-) Prim isn't perfect!!!!
These are previous baskets I've stained using walnut gel stain... It was very hard to work with as it doesn't want to thin down with the paint thinner. I do,however, like the stain color better.
WARNING: Stain can be highly flammable. Please follow the manufacturer's instructions on the stain on how to properly dispose of all materials used in this project. I just let my glass jars dry out with the top off outside and throw them away.
