Basket Renovation

As I said in my little descriptions and "About Me," I like to make stuff and paint. Recently my mom gave me a basket to fix up so we could possibly sell it.

Obviously my sister and I got a hold of it as children and made it sooooo pretty. Well now it was my job to make it look prettier. There were a couple bottles of brown paint with the basket, so I used the darkest one. I started on the inside because I knew that would be difficult to get to, and I was right. I wished I had a tiny brush that would fit in the basket so I could get in the little corners. This is how it looked once I got the inside painted: 

There was also a bunch of purple paint in there which I didn't get in the "before" pictures. The paint covered it up surprisingly well. I had to add an extra coat in a couple spots, but other than that it was fairly covered. Painting the outside was a lot easier.

Wow bad photo. But this is what it looked like completely covered with the "burnt umber" paint. I've never liked that color name. What even is umber?

This is when I got to start having fun. I painted little designs on the rim of the basket with white paint. Then I used an old brush pen to outline them and make the lines smoother. The reason I used a brush pen and not a sharpie is because my experience with sharpies on paint has not been positive. Plus sharpies tend to look weird and shiny and almost tinted blue. If you ever want to use pen on top of paint, be sure the paint is completely dry! I've lost a lot of pens because of my impatience. That's why I used an old brush pen, just in case I got a little excited. I used a Faber-Castell PITT brush pen. These are very nice pens, and they are permanent like sharpies, but don't leave that weird sharpie look. I recently got a new set of these pens, so I used one from the set I've had for a couple years. And I didn't mess it up, either! Here's what my designs looked like before and after outlining:

I was very happy with how they looked after I outlined them. The before and after pictures are at the top. So much better! I almost don't want to sell it.

The whole painting process took about 4 hours or so, with one break for lunch. I don't like waiting to finish things... I hope I've inspired someone to update something sitting around in your house! You really need no artistic talent to do it, just paint, brushes, a good pen, and a steady hand. And it doesn't have to be perfect; imperfections are what make things unique!