I admit I felt very lucky finding this piece of old upholstery in someone's attic...and actually there were three of them, and the owner was about to throw them out! Once supporting a back of a sofa, these simple pieces instantly won me over. But they would be so easy to make, I thought they carry a universal message to share. So here's how one of those babies looked like on the wrong side, where all the action to make them takes place:
As you can see it's just a rectangular timber frame with some thick burlap upholstery tape (from upholstery supplies) nailed to it. The white paint is me, trying different approaches with white acrylic. This particular tape is very wide, but they come in different sizes.
I painted the frame white with water diluted acrylic paint to show some timber through. Then I put a layer of crackling medium, and finally, a very diluted white acrylic layer on top, so instead of proper crackle I got a kind of smudged look.
For painting the tape I used undiluted acrylic, leaving just a little bit of edge to show the coarse fabric. Then I glued on some letters and numbers (from craft supplies) to arrive at something like this:
It's from Alice in Wonderland, my all time fave, but the possibilities are endless!
As you see, my board has many old nail holes and cracks, that came handy when trying to decide, what to hang where, and add some old hooks...as well, as a very special hanging garden holder...
...but then again, it's just a hole, with a piece of double twisted wire stuck inside, strong enough to hold the weight of the first occupant of my board:
And here it is, all finished:
I didn't intend to hang my jewelry there, but as you see, one necklace already found it's way onto it.
I hope it will inspire you to create something special!
