Asian Umbrella Box by Debbie Cole

Prepare the box with sealer and sand, then wipe with cheese cloth. Basecoat the red areas of the box with Cherry Red and the black areas with Lamp Black. Apply multiple coats until smooth and even. Coat background with a coat of matte varnish. This will protect the work you have already done plus allow for easy clean-up for the next step.

Determine placement of stamps on box referring to the photo. Dampen a cosmetic sponge and remove as much water as possible. Place the umbrella stamp on the large acrylic handle. Load the sponge with Lamp Black. Apply the paint to the stamp and apply to box. Repeat the same process with the flower stamps. The butterfly stamps are stamped with Glorious Gold. When using paint on stamps it is important that you do not overload the image. Pour a puddle of paint out on the palette. Pounce the sponge into the paint and then on a clean area of the palette. When you look at the bottom of the sponge it should be covered by paint but you should still be able to see the texture of the sponge. Now quickly pounce the loaded sponge over the entire image and stamp it on the surface. If you don’t like what you have stamped simply wipe it off with a wet wipe! Since you already have a coat of varnish on the surface, it will clean up easily. Stamp all the images around the plate. Immediately wash the stamps with soap and water. If any has dried use an old tooth brush to clean.

Shade the umbrellas with Lamp Black. Keep these floats very soft by blending it out on the palette paper.

Using a bubble palette, place about a dime size drop of Glorious Gold in an individual bubble. Mix one part paint with approx. three parts water mixed with Easy Float. Completely mix the paint until it becomes transparent. Using a #4 round brush wash in all the gold areas with the thinned paint. Add Glorious Gold accent lines around the lid of the box using a liner brush.

Allow to cure for 24 hours. Apply multiple coats of matte varnish to protect the plate.