Resin Crafts: Guest Blogger - Kristi Parker Van Doren and Her Re-purposed Bench Project

I hope you enjoy learning how she created this one of a kind bench. Thank you for sharing Kristi!

How many of you like to re-purpose items? Some friends of mine had this cute little bench for sale at a garage sale. I thought to myself, "self, you can do something with that bench". So I bought it! Yes, the seat lifts for storage. I decided I wanted to use a mosaic look of sorts, add lots of texture and finish it off with RESIN! So lets get this party started!

I used my Golden Paints (got a GREAT deal on a garage sale of a then local artist, Pam Carriker!) to lay down some color. Pam loves the teal/ochre combo so there were a lot of those colors along with white so I went with it!

So I blended and painted and blended and painted and then did it some more. I finally got the look I wanted and so I continued until the entire bench was covered. I colored a bunch of dominoes with Alcohol Inks by Dreamweaver Stencils. Yes, they have wonderful, rich Alcohol Inks! I edged them with Gold Krylon Pens and made the "frame" for the mosaics on the bench top.

I found these stones/shells at Michael's so decided to use them. I have not ever done mosaic so I just winged it! I love just making it up as I go, part of the freedom of art! I used Designer Dries Clear Glue to attach everything to the bench. It is the best over all glue I have ever used. I like some others for different projects, but the Designer Dries Clear is my "GO TO" glue!

I did some glitter work between the bits of shell and let it all dry. While I was waiting, I used my Connie Crystal Sheets in white to start trimming the bench on top.

I added a lot of texture to the front of the bench with Dreamweaver Stencils and several colors of Stencil Paste. I added bits of the shell as well to the paste while it was still wet.