I have a list of about eleventy billion crafty things that I would like to learn to do.  I’d love to learn how to knit.  Although I don’t bake, I think it would be fun to learn how to decorate cakes.  And I want nothing more than to arrange flowers like Eddie Ross.

Pretty high on that list was learning how to crewel.  If you aren’t familiar with crewel, it’s basically very similar to hand embroidery, except you use crewel yarn instead of embroidery floss.  That yarn gives it more of a textured look and feel.  Crewel is a thousand year old technique, but it saw great fanfare in the 1970s.  These days, the special crewel yarn is ONLY made by a company in London called Appleton.  You can find it online and possibly at local shops; there is one place here in Austin where you can pick it up – The Needle Works.  It (quite overwhelmingly) comes in hundreds of different colors.

I bought eight skeins of my favorite Appleton colors and headed down to a beginner Crewelwork class at an amazingly hip fabric store/sewing lounge in Austin, the Stitch Lab.  Niku, a wonderful gal who was way cooler than I could ever dream to be (she had gorgeous tattoos of embroidery scissors, a cross stitch sampler and a tomato pin cushion!) taught us how to thread our needles with the crewel wool and set us on our way with some stitches.  We laughed and we stitched and I was generally hooked.  It was so much fun, and I’ve been working away on getting my little crewel sampler completed.

The cool thing about crewel (and hand embroidery in general) is that it doesn’t have to be the typical designs that you find at JoAnn, Michael’s, or your grandmother’s sewing basket.  Crewel has gotten cool!  After I finish this sampler, I am planning on buying some designs from Sublime Stitching (founded here in Austin in 2001 and now taking over the world).  I’m pretty sure Ryan Berkley’s Mr. Fox is going to be stitched out to hang on my wall sometime soon.

Ryan Berkley embroidery transfers available at Sublime Stitching

What about you?  Have you ever considered trying your hand at crewel?  I think it’s a great thing to do in the evenings instead of checking Twitter and Facebook and Pinterest and then Twitter and Facebook and Pinterest.  I honestly don’t think you even need to take a class – just search for some videos on YouTube and get started.

 What crafty things would you like to learn to do?

I have an addiction that I need to get off my chest.  It’s stronger than my addiction to Facebook.  Stronger than my addiction to Sons of Anarchy.  It’s even stronger than my addiction to coffee, which says more than you know.

My name is Lindsay, and I am addicted to decorative glaze.

It all started about this time last year.  I rehabbed an old dresser with a gorgeous yellow paint, but I thought it needed something more.  So, I followed Mandy‘s and Mandi‘s advice and got some Ralph Lauren glaze from my local dealer (heh, “dealer”).  He tinted it to Black Silk and the finished project brought me such a high.

As a gal recovering from DADD, I knew that I shouldn’t try it just for fun.  But, I did.  And then again (on a gray dresser).  And again (on a bed).  And again (on some frames).

At first, the rush I felt was at the newness of putting on the glaze.  I had to perfect my technique by removing the glaze with various combinations of wet and dry cloths.  I felt like an artist.  Then, I moved on from my gateway drug – wooden pieces – to a new world of glazing plastic and metal surfaces.

Now that my addiction has reached critical mass, I am simply unable to paint anything a single color without thinking that it’s dull and one-dimensional.  My fingers just itch to open that can of glaze (yes, I’ve only used about half the quart after all of those projects – it lasts forever).  I’m afraid I’m going to need to explore some sort of glaze related rehab.

Never glazed a piece before?  Here’s a quick run down on the steps involved.

How to Glaze Wooden Furniture and Frames

1.  Paint the piece your base color and allow it to fully dry.

2.  Load a cheap paint brush (like a chip brush) with glaze and dab it onto your piece.  I like to work in smallish sections of about 12 inches x 12 inches at a time.  Make sure you really work the glaze into any details or imperfections you wish to bring out.

3.  Lightly wipe the glaze with a wet (but not dripping) cloth.  You can use any sort of clean rag to do this.  I just buy the bags of wiping rags from Home Depot.

4.  With a dry cloth, firmly wipe away the glaze that is left standing on top of the piece (i.e. not in the details).

5.  Using a different wet cloth, wipe the surface again so that the glaze doesn’t look dingy.

6.  Move on to your next 12″x12″ section using the same steps.  However, when you are wiping, use clean areas of your various cloths.  I generally go through 3 sets of cloths for a piece the size of a tall dresser.

7.  Once you are finished and are happy with the results (keep adding glaze or keeping wiping off if you are not), let the piece dry.  I usually add a protective finish, such as a polyurethane, to my painted pieces.

8.  Marvel at your piece.  Wonder why you’ve never glazed anything before.  Become addicted.  Know that we are in this together.

Anyone else need a 12 step program?