Shoe Polish and Stain

The good thing about making a mistake is that you have the chance to try something new. I took the sewing table apart and made new sides. Now it will be the correct height.

For the finish, I tried using Plaid maple stain right out of the bottle. As you can see, that didn't work.


Then I tried rubbing neutral shoe polish on the wood to seal it. Here you can see the pieces of the table with the shoe polish and one light coat of stain. Much better.


Now I'm gluing the table back together again.


I'm happy with how it looks so far. I think Grandma will appreciate that it will be the right height too. I wouldn't want her to get a sore back from leaning over a table that was too short. :D

Hope you have a nice day!

Homemade Wood Stain

I really didn't want to go to Home Depot today and spend $8 on a pint of maple stain. I found a "recipe" at eHow.com. It uses plain ole vinegar and watercolor paint. That's it.

I just used the Crayola paints I had. If you have tubes of watercolors it would be easier. I used brown, black, a bit of red and just mixed them up in some vinegar.

I tried my mixture on several different kinds of wood to see how it would look.

Then I dry brushed some black paint over the first coat of stain. The piece on the left below is closest to the color I want. It's still a little light but I'm thinking one more coat and it will be perfect?

I found that a sponge brush works best for applying the stain. I'm hoping that the wood won't warp. I'll let you know how it goes.

So far, so good.

It's kind of like dyeing Easter eggs! :D