TITYN DIY Night – Painted Antlers

This mess makes me so happy.  It’s what our tables looked like at the end of our DIY night last week. We painted antlers!  My friends, Lauren and Molly, and I hosted the night to raise money for our pre-school.  Lauren and Molly really did everything and I just showed up to Molly’s house with my art supplies and props.  I told them we should go into business because the night was so much fun!

First I want to share a little bit of how the scene looked before our guests arrived.  Molly’s house is beautiful and the food and beverage were in fantastic full force!  How awesome is this oversized round platter (similar):

 

 

Art supplies were also in full force, I think I am now equipped with a portable art studio ready for 24 artists!  Setting up these tables made my heart sing!

Yes, that is a putting green in Molly’s backyard, beyond beyond cool!

 

Now here’s how the DIY went down:  I thought it was important to mention that no animals were harmed.  These were naturally shed Whitetail Deer antlers from Texas.  I bought them from the Antler Man on eBay.  I was, however, concerned a guest would get harmed!  So we kept the antlers pointed down and we made it through the night without an accident, phew!  Next I thought it was important to use kids’ art supplies.  Our guests were all moms and kids’ supplies is all we usually have available at home.  I also wanted give everyone a chance to try the great Kid Made Modern products from Target.

Next, I wanted to tell a little bit about the artist who’s artwork we would be DIYing.  Her name is Cassandra Smith and she is the original antler painter.  Her Etsy shop is amazing.  She has sold her antlers through Anthropologie and Terrain.  She even exhibited a hand-painted taxidermy deer mount, check out her portfolio.  Cassandra lives in Milwaukee, WI and she just got married in Mexico over the weekend.  I only know that because I follow her on Instagram, ha!

Then everyone got to work!  Here are the easy steps to painting antlers:

1.  I tried to get everyone to sketch a design, make a plan on the Kraft Paper.  My sister found it helpful to figure out her color scheme.

2.  Make a tape and antler sandwich.  We used Frog Tape and I was amazed!  Because the antlers are tapered, you can’t wrap a point with tape, it will only spiral.  So you have to put a strip of tape across the front of the antlers, flip the antlers over and align a second strip of tape across the back, creating a tape (bread) and antler (meat) sandwich.  Be sure to pinch the tape together so it is snug against the antler.

3.  Paint a first coat of each color, let it dry and paint a second coat.  A lot of the paint we used was a fast drying acrylic, the same paint I used on our easter eggs.

 

 

4. Remove the tape and then there are two options for the negative space.  A) Paint it or B) leave it in it’s natural state.

5.  Set it out to dry!  And if you’re having a party, half a shirt box works great for drying and for the car ride home.

 

These hand painted antlers are now art/sculpture and can be placed in a bookcase, on a coffee table, on top of a stack of books, hung on the wall with a thin string of leather or if the antlers are small enough, they can be used as a ring holder on a night table.  Beautiful!  Thank you Lauren and Molly for being the most gracious hosts ever!

One last thing!  I’m so inspired by color right now!  Here are a few things I’m admiring along with a couple Mother’s Day wants. 😉  Click on the thumbnail picture to check it out: