Our 1st Workshop

Well we finally have come to our first workshop. All the prep is done and it is just time to let you know a little of what has transpired since the last blog. I had posted on facebook a couple of items that Bobbie was working on and we are now ready to reveal them. Soon. Just teasing.

Margaret with Chair

Barry with plate rack

Now this past Saturday we start out our first workshop. We have two Margarets, a Barry, an Ann (my sister-in-law) and a Penny. As well as Bobbie and myself. We have the back of the Port Stanley store all set up and I added some pics to show how things went on. Here are a couple of pics of the participants with their unfinished project pieces.

Margie with table

Margaret has a chair, Barry has a small plate rack, and the second Margaret decided she should be Margie for the day so we were not confused between the two has a small table. Penny who will be working in the Port Stanley store was there for some more indoctrination as she will eventually do some of the workshops. She is quite artistic and has a thing for the unusual. Barry was in training as we may have him painting furniture especially as we seem to be getting some inquires on doing painting for others.


Bobbie explaining about brushes

We started off with a brief discussion on chalk paint and its history and about vGCP (van Gogh Chalk Paint) Collection specifically. Told them about cave art, Tom Sawyer and frescos. I think they were all inspired as they all took to the training quite readily and with enthusiasm.

Margaret with her first coat of paint.

We completed most of the sample boards before lunch before we retired to the Kettle Creek Inn which was just down the street. Here we enjoyed meals of chicken pot pie, fresh lake erie perch or wild mushroom ravioli for our meal along with copiuous amounts of tea, and coffee. We came back to start on the projects and soon everyone was working furiously.

Margarets finished chair

Some of the projects took on a greater depth than originally anticipated but having started at 10:30 am and finishing just after 4:00 pm we did quite well. Margarets chair had an undercoat of van Gogh with a top coat of Cashmere with some wet distressing to accentuate the piece. This was finished with a coat of natural beeswax to seal the paint. Interesting enough this piece of Margarets had been partially stripped by her a few years ago and she never finished it because of the time it consumed for her to do it.

Margies finished table

Margies finished table was in Dragons Gray. She had done some distressing but it had been somewhat heavy in a few places, due to some hard spots on one of the cloths she had used to wipe down while distressing. This was a great opportunity to show the versatility of the van Gogh Chalk Paint Collection and the areas affected were recoated and then dryed with a hairdryer. The distressing was finished and a light dry brushing of Cashmere and  a little more light distressing was done, and then Margie waxed the base and put a light coat of table top finish on the top to complete the project.

Barry had done his piece with a coat of Muse. He did some light wet distressing and then proceeded to wax the project. Barry also chose to highlight some strategic areas with the dark wax to finish his project.

The finished projects above were amazing and all took great pride in their accomplishments. One note I will make is that if you notice that Bobbie has some coveralls on with some distinctive marks. This will be for another blog on another day. Till then this is:

John Robinson - Master Craftsman for Stan Portleys - We are timeless and unique.