our fireplace | part 2 {chalkboard}
Awhile back I made several of these silver chalkboard trays & it gave me an idea.
What if I did a chalkboard above our fireplace????
I'd been trying to figure out what to do up there anyway.
After Ben finished painting it, I got a little nervous though.
The black was beautiful and velvety looking, but all of a sudden it really made the room feel small. But that was only for a moment.
Once we "seasoned" the wall, it lightened up and my enthusiasm grew!
{tip 1}
If you're using a brand new chalkboard {as we obviously were with our wall}, it's really important to "season" or "prime" it.
This will help lessen the ghosting that will appear. Ghosting is when you draw on a chalkboard and after it's erased, you still see the image...but in black.
{directions}
To season a chalkboard, simply use a full piece of chalk and run it along its side over the entire surface of the chalkboard. Make sure to rub it in well. Once the board is covered, erase it with a rag, etc. It is now seasoned and ready to go!
{tip 2}
Once you're ready to start on your script or image, dip your chalk in water before drawing. Anton liked seeing it fizz as the porous chalk took on the water. The color will appear richer & deeper than when using dry chalk.
It also allowed me to get into the grooves of our textured wall.
Continue dipping the chalk in water as you go. At first, the chalk color will look dull. Once it dries however it will be the bright, bold color you're expecting.
Classy girl that I am, I snagged an old pair of socks from Ezekiel's drawer and used one to blend {see above} & got the other wet to use as my eraser.
{{ Now to figure out what to write up there!! }}
I found this image on Pinterest and fell in love {source} with both the wreath-like quality of it, as well as her text {you need to go to her shop, by the way. fantastic}.
Sadly, I hate my handwriting so though this was my inspiration...I ended up just using it as that. Inspiration.
When I began this project, autumn was in all it's glory and we were thinking about Thanksgiving.
I had lofty goals of doing a different scape for each month or season...unfortunately I realized that just wasn't realistic for me right now.
So once our mantle was finally up, I decided to erase my text and build on it with items from around the house.
I love how it turned out...and I love that it can still be constantly changing.
Thoughts?
What would look great on our chalkboard mantle next?
also see: