Chalkboard with Painted Scroll Graphic



I just finished making this yesterday and delivered it to a local store for sale there.

The best thing about being a woodworker is making things to your own sizes, and your own shapes and ideas.  You don't have to search for something to paint, you make your own article to paint!

I have shown before how I make my chalkboards so will just show a few photos of the process.

This board is made with 1/4" thick hardboard, which means that the frame has to have slots that are just a touch wider than 1/4" that the hardboard can fit into. I run my wood (pine, in this case) through the tablesaw blade to get the slot or groove.

There are four pieces, a top and bottom and two sides.  I decided not to go square or rectangular but to add a shape to the board at the top, with room for a graphic, and a bit of curviness on the sides and bottom.  I cut them with a jigsaw.


The ends of the side pieces have a built-in tenon that fits into the grooves in the top and bottom pieces.  The grooves are there for the chalkboard, so the tenon (the piece that goes into the grooves to make the "corners"), is 1/4" wide to fit into them.  The following photo should show that better than I have just described it:



The piece is glued together and coated with shellac (I use clear shellac mixed at a 4:1 ratio with amber shellac), which gives a nice colour and finish to projects that I am going to distress.



I then "paint" a bit of Vaseline here and there all over the frame and then coat it with two coats of white paint.


Vaseline will stop the paint from covering in those spots.  It also gives a bit of a cracked look.  I wipe the vaseline off, but leave some of the cracked part there.



Then I found a graphic at The Graphics Fairy website and enlarged it to the size I felt would fit on the top portion of the chalkboard.  I transferred the design using carbon paper and then hand painted  the scroll design. I then scrubbed it lightly with some water and some sandpaper to make it look old, and sprayed it with a clear coat sealer.


My chalkboard with painted scroll graphic is 22 1/2" tall x 13 1/2" wide and sells for $50.


This is the same shape (except for the curves on the sides and bottom) I used for another chalkboard over a year ago, which looks much different than this one.


Hope you like them both!


Sharing at the following blogs:
My Repurposed Life                                Homespun Happenings
Jennifer Rizzo                                         Shabby Art Boutique
French Country Cottage                          The Graphics Fairy
Beyond the Picket Fence                         Too Much Time on My Hands
Three Mango Seeds                                Cedar Hill Ranch
Knick of Time                                        Elizabeth & Co.

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