Dressing the Tables: Part 3

So I have now shown you my inspiration and first trial run for my table numbers, and the actual numbers themselves have finally arrived! It's time now for another round of table number mock ups. When I went back to the art supply store, they did not have any more of the numbers that I practiced on before, I went this time with a wooden frame (same concept).

I set my supplies out on the floor (not pictured here: my newspaper scraps - ripped to be about the size of a quarter, no particular shape).



I started first with blue again to have a comparison. I mixed a bit of the blue paint with the modge podge and used this to decoupage the newspaper to the frame half.



Next, I tried different colors. The paint was mixed with the modge podge again. This method turned out to be much more time intensive because I had to clean my fingers after each piece, and work very slowly so that the whole piece did not come out brown. I let it dry a bit and then covered the whole thing in clear modge podge (meaning without any paint color mixed in).



Here are the two halves, standing side by side on my coffee table (with what I am pretty sure is Wii Basketball on in the background). The flash washes out the effect a little bit, but you can see the comparison here.



And the frame all put together, with slightly better lighting. You can see the method - paint covered newspaper, pretty well here.

(All pictures in this post are personal photos - action shots!)

The result of my second trial? Not loving it! While I think it looks kind of neat, I'm not really achieving the look that I am going for on the tables. I'm a little bit stuck at this point. I had really planned on doing the numbers like this, but now I am considering leaving them just wood - maybe staining them to be a bit darker since our palette is jewel tones, but I'm not sure. Do you have suggestions?

This is not all for the tables, though! I have another plan for accompanying the wooden numbers, and believe me, it's adorable. But you'll just have to stick around to find out more...

Did you have a project that you couldn't seem to get to go the way you wanted? Any advice for my poor little numbers?

Dressing the Tables

Now that you have seen our flower centerpiece mock-ups, I will show you a little of what else I have up my sleeve for the tables. There are two DIY projects that I will be doing, and the first is the actual numbers themselves. I fell in love with Miss Cola's wooden numbers and ordered them from the same Etsy seller, Lizartistry, along with an additional wooden cutout that I will tell you about soon.

While waiting for the numbers to arrive, I embarked on one my first real DIY projects for the wedding. My inspiration for this project is from an art piece that I purchased in Barcelona several years ago. Here it is, hanging on my wall:

(All photos are personal photos)

I'm not sure if you can tell from this picture, but it is a canvas covered first with newspaper and then painted on. I was hoping to recreate this idea for my table numbers.

I bought smaller numbers to practice on from an art supply store, and spent the night covered in newspaper, modge podge and blue paint. I did each number slightly differently, please let me know what you think! (And please remember, these were just meant to be practice to find the right method, so they are definitely not perfect!)

This was the first number that I made: I covered the letter in newspaper and then paint over it. The idea would be to do several different colors throughout the tables like this. I felt like maybe the paint was too dark?


This is second method I tried. The front of the letter is actually a pretty blue paper that I glued on, and then used the blue paint around the edges to create that effect and paint the sides.


This was my next letter. Simply painted with several coats of paint to give it texture. Not bad, but overall, not that interesting.


This was the final number that I made for the night. The left half was the blue paint mixed right into the modge podge, and the right side was blue paint mixed with water and covering the newspaper very lightly.

So, Hive, what do you think? Any suggestions for future practice? Which one do you like the best (or do you think I should keep working on it)? Are you doing anything special for your table numbers? If you are interested in learning more about how I made any of these numbers, please let me know!