Last week, I showed you a tray that I bought at Salvation Army (for $4.99)-
I wasn't crazy about the color and design - but I thought I could dress it up a bit. And I thought I could try something I had never done before - silver leaf. I went out to Michael's and bought my supplies-
Silver leaf, adhesive size, brushes, and sealer. I did use coupons to help keep the cost down. And I ended up needing more than one package of silver leaf for this project (I did have extra - and I can't wait to show you what else I covered...). I spent about $20. So here's the process - I started with the back first-
I brushed on the adhesive size-
It goes on white but clears dry. I had to let that set up for about 30 minutes (I did some laundry, cleaned the kitchen, and checked out some of my favorite blogs while I waited...). Then I got started. I picked up a sheet of silver leaf and set it down in the middle of the tray-
I used a clean brush to smooth it down-
I repeated this process until the back was completely covered. I did overlap the pieces slightly so it would completely cover the tray-
Then I rubbed the brush over the whole tray to get all of the loose pieces of silver leaf off-
I flipped it over, and repeated the same process on the front-
The last step was to seal it. I used a spray sealer - I just gave it a couple of coats. Then I cleaned up the mess-
There were tiny pieces of silver leaf everywhere...but now I have a beautiful piece for my dining room table-
Here's a before and after-
It's really interesting to see all of the 'squares' of silver leaf on the tray. It's a fun piece - and it was fun to make! It'll look great when I host Thanksgiving dinner!
I've linked this project here -
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