Sunday, May 3, 2015

Things of Beauty and Utility! Part 2 - Birds on a Bookcase

Flamingo Bookcase
Flamingo Bookcase
 Estelle has been lucky enough to receive lots and lots of books as presents - and they needed a home.  So I decided to hunt down an old bookcase in a charity shop and upscale it.


Estelle is crazy about pink, so I thought a bookcase decorated with my bright pink flamingo linocuts would be a good idea.








Bookcase from charity shop
Bookcase from charity shop





This is the bookcase I bought for a grand total of £12 from the Castle Furniture Project here in Perth.  As you can see, it had some glass doors, but I decided discard these.  The same furniture project sells recycled paint.  I chose a pale grey-blue colour as I thought this would be a good contrast to the pink flamingoes.  I lightly sanded the bookcase and gave it 3 coats of paint.

Flamingo Linocut
Flamingo Linocut

I scanned in my flamingo linocuts (which you can buy on Etsy or at my online gallery).  I wanted to give the appearance of a flock of flamingoes, so I cut out flamingoes in a variety of sizes for each shelf.

I cut them out and glued them into place carefully using Mod Podge.






The finished flamingo bookcase
The finished flamingo bookcase

As you can see, I also glued a large flamingo onto the outside of each side of the book case.  To protect them, I gave all the flamingoes two coats of Mod Podge.  I then gave the whole bookcase two coats of varnish.


The finished bookcase - a colourful and practical addition to Estelle's bedroom.