Squid Towel Holder

Meet the newest edition to our condo. We had a towel holder outside for hanging wet bathing suits and towels. We were never really happy with it and had been looking for something beachy or fishy to replace the one that was there. 

Being the creative , I decide that we needed to consider something that we make, instead of buying a premade piece. I knew that it had to be a substantial piece to get Jason involved. I suggested we head over to Defrance Flea Market knowing they had lots of artisan carved fish, sharks and more.

That's when we found grumpy, the squid.  Jason is a fisherman and squid are one of his favorite sea creatures, but this guy was a little too cartoonist. Right? Not really our style. But wait. "I can paint it." 

He's big at 46" wide. Substantial....wink wink. We purchased Grumpy for $104 on sale from $179.00. I'm guessing he was too right for most people.

First, I tried  a white washed coat. Not enough. I am convinced that the eyeball needs to be painted black with a ring of white so I get that started.

And a heavier coat of white. A dot of black paint into the white paint and I can start a few shadows of grey.

Now on to  the backboard. 

I knew I wanted a very weathered looking board. I had a piece of plywood that was cut to the perfect size. Ding ding ding. Win. 

It was going to have to be a pretty dark background to make this squid pop.

The backboard gets a full coat of dark grey chalk paint.  After that dries , I coat the board with a generous coat of elmer's white glue.This will give my next coat the crackle effect. Then I mixed up a tan acrylic paint with some kosher salt to create a salt wash.  The salt wash gets applied by stippling in random areas. That dries. Now a coat of white chalk paint. And there is my crackle. 

 After the white crackle coat dries I give the board a heavy sand with 80 grit and my rotary sander. You can see the big patches of tan where the salt wash was added. When sanded it helps bring the entire distress look together. 

 Finally, a coat of Fiddess and Sons Jacobean wax. It's very dark and exactly what this piece needs.

Yes,  the dark grey has some blue in it.

Let's see how this will look.

It works. It all works and that board. It looks like I found the board that way. It also has so many layers that you would never know it was plywood.

Did I mention we picked up some oil rubbed bronze hooks at Hobby Lobby. Hello perfection. 

Here it is mounted.

Grumpy squid is looking much better.

I hope this helps to get your creative juices flowing. Thanks for stopping by and leaving comments. I love knowing my people are out there.