Iron Orchid Design- Gallery Wall Art Ideas!

If you have been following my Blog, you know I am in the process of getting ready for the Purple Painted Lady Festival. I have been working diligently to increase my inventory. This year, I am adding a more diverse collection of merchandise. I will still have my refinished furniture since that is where I started, but I am adding more small items in the way of redesigned vases, pottery, artwork and more!

Since finding the Iron Orchid Design sisters on You Tube, I have been trying out many of their products. When I saw the gallery wall made from plywood. I knew I had to try making some of the art pieces. Wait to you see the results!

IOD_GALLERY_WALL

This is the entire gallery wall that was completed using one sheet of plywood. Amazing isn’t it! I made the two middle pieces from the Midnight Garden transfers. All of the art I am creating now will be in the Purple Painted Lady festival in September, but after the festival, I plan on recreating this entire gallery for my home. I can just see it going up the wall of the staircase. Stay tuned for that!

These are the two designs. There are fours sheets that fit together seamlessly. The left top and bottom will be one of the designs and the right the other.

This piece of plywood was cut to 17×29 for Midnight Garden # 1. I gave it a light sanding in preparation for paint.

I then painted it with Annie Sloan Aubusson Blue Chalk Paint.

Clear Matte Minwax Polycrylic Protective Finish

After the paint dried, I added a coat of Minwax Polycrylic water based matte finish. It helped create a better surface for the transfer to adhere too.

After the polycrylic dried, I put wide tape around the wood to make a border.

Now for the fun part!

Once the transfer was on. I took a small piece of plastic and went over it to make sure everything was smooth.

Once the transfer was completely adhered. I removed the tape.

At this point, I realized I was going to have to free hand the gold leaf border. Therefore, I have no picture of applying the border. Because all my attention went to not getting it on the transfer.

For Midnight Garden #2. The plywood was cut to 25×36. I used Annie Sloan Old White Chalk Paint. Like the first, I added a coat of Minwax Polycrylic finish. After it dried, I measured 3/4 inch border all around. Yes, I realized I was using the wrong side of the ruler and corrected myself!

Added the tape starting from the 3/4 inch mark.

I used the ruler and a box cutter to make a sharp corner.

Perfect corners!

This part made me nervous. I had to free hand a border all along the tape edge. Quiet please!

Whew!

To apply the transfer, I used the plastic implement that came with it. I pressed and moved it around until the transfer adhered to the board. It took a lot of pressing, but so worth it!

Once the transfer was on, like the first piece, I used a piece of plastic to make sure it was secure.

This was another scary part. I had to apply a color wash to add depth. I tested the wash on a piece of paper before applying it.

Color wash done!

Next, I painted a black border all the way around.

Finished!

I love the way they turned out!

What a wonderful way to add artwork to your home and not break the bank doing it!

This gets me revved up to create more! Mark your calendars for September 18th and 19th for the Purple Painted Lady Festival. Make sure you come see me at Impulsively Creative. I will have this artwork and much more!

Check out my Instagram post for more artwork I made from the same piece of plywood!

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