These are 4 3/4 inch wooden block letters that had a white base paint. I lightly sanded the surfaces to be painted to allow something for the paint to adhere to. Using some random circular stickers I had used for another project, I marked off the dots for the pattern. A few layers of bright magenta went over each of the letters, including the stickers.The letters sat for a few days to allow them to completely dry. When they were ready, I carefully removed the stickers to reveal the plain white circles. I used a "mocha" brown, and a minty green to make most of the dots. I also left some of the dots empty and used white paint to touch up
.After a few hours (days) of carefully calculating which dot should be which color, each dot was completely filled in and a second layer was added. The final touch was the ribbon hangers. I had done ribbon hangers before but with a different style and size letters. These were much more weight for the standard one ribbon strand, especially the sheer I had originally picked. So I finished it with both the sheer white and a matching satin in pink. These letters also fit in a tabletop holder that the bottoms just slide into.
This set is listed on Artfire.com as a set of three or four. Because of the time requirement, the polka dot sets cost a little bit more than everything else. Circles are nasty little buggers and required a lot of retouching, and meticulous brush strokes.
These letters were gifted to me from Ashley and I absolutely LOVE them.
ReplyDeleteWhen I first saw that she made the letters for someone else I immediately put in a request (not knowing she had already planned on making some for my daughter). The letters I got were exactly what I asked for.
After only seeing a picture, the colors are right on and the set matches our nursery perfectly. The fact that they do not hang straight fits with our little monkey (Elly) and helps to make things not look extremely boxy, which fits with my family's personality. She also included a stand base for the letters, which is also being displayed in the nursery.
The time and passion that went into making these shines through in the finished product, as Ashley even included a personal message on the back with the date included. The letters were made and sent (they had to be mailed from Arizona to Michigan) in a timely matter and arrived at our house safely wrapped in tissue paper that matched the theme of the letters (color and polka dots) and were unharmed from the distance.
I highly recommend the letters and any other creation from Ashley, you will not be disappointed. I am very excited to see what else the Elly Collection will contain, and to do further business through Nine14 Design.