Traveling a Forgotten Path

Instructions

1. I opened up my Leisure Arts Diamond Painting Kit and made sure I had all of the required parts. The printed canvas needed to be flattened a bit before I started, making sure to leave the sticky film cover on the canvas, I placed a book on top of my canvas for a few hours before starting.

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2. Following the instructions included with the Diamond Art I applied all of the flat backed diamonds to the canvas. It took me only a few hours to complete.

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3. Next I trimmed the Diamond Art canvas to the very edge of the blue background with a pair of sharp scissors.

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4. I carefully used a pencil and ruler to mark as close as possible to the Tribe Design pattern, creating a slightly elongated diamond outline. I then trimmed the canvas further with the scissors, using my pencil lines as my guide.

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5. Now that the Diamond Art canvas was cut to size, it fit neatly on the wood board I wanted to attach it to. Once again, I used my pencil to mark out the exact placement of my canvas on the wood board.

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6. Making sure my wood board was clean of dust or particles I sprayed it with Mod Podge Ultra Matte in the pencil outline of the diamond.

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7. Quickly and carefully I applied the diamond canvas to the coated wood board. I applied firm pressure to the canvas. The spray version of Mod Podge Matte makes it much easier to apply fabric without a worry of oversaturation or bubbles forming. I let the Mod Podge fully dry.

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8. Making sure to cover the sides and front of the wood board I applied on FolkArt Home Deco Chalk Paint in Java. Using the flat paint brush to apply paint to the open sections of the wood board and the round brush for the detailed sections around the diamonds. The Tribe Design canvas had a tendency to soak up more paint, so I applied a bit more paint to make sure there was even coverage.

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9. Before the paint fully cured I used cotton swabs dipped in isopropyl alcohol to remove any paint that accidently covered the diamonds. I then let the paint fully cure before the next step.

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10. On the now dry paint I applied FolkArt Crackle Medium, careful to not over brush and to only apply the medium in one direction. This would ensure a better crackle formation later on. I let this layer fully dry.

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11. To create a highly textured topcoat I mixed tablespoon of used and dried coffee grounds in a small cup, with 4 parts FolkArt Home Decor Chalk Paint in White Adirondack, with 1 part Parisian Grey.

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12. I quickly applied my textured topcoat to the crackle layer, making sure once again to not over paint, and for the most part, go only one direction with the brush strokes. Any time the paint built up too much on the brush I cleaned the paint brush with a paper towel and then reapplied fresh paint mixture to the brush.

13. Once again before the paint fully cured I used cotton swabs dipped in isopropyl alcohol to remove any paint that accidently covered the diamonds. I then let the paint fully cure before the next step.

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14. In a small cup I heavily diluted some Black FolkArt Home Decor Chalk Paint with some water and applied it to the cracks, textured elements and raised portions of the wood board, careful to avoid the flat backed diamond pattern. I left the paint to fully dry.

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15. I cut and placed the artificial tropical plants on the board, finding the placement I liked best, gluing the plants in place with Liquid Fusion Clear Urethane Glue. Once the glue was fully cured my pieces was ready to be displayed.

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