How to Make a Chair Slip Cover Out of ScotchBlue Painter's Tape

Have you ever done something for a really long time, like 20 years, and then suddenly woke up one day and you were just done? I have been feeling that way about decorating my house for about 6 months now. It is not what I want it to be, but I am tired of fighting with it. I want to make one huge push and just get the whole thing done so I can ignore it for the next ten years. 

My problem here has been a shortage of both time and money. I do almost everything myself because I have had much more time, than money for the last 20 years. And fortunately, I am crafty and have a knack for design. It has been fun to paint and reuse and sew and tinker. It was an awesome creative outlet for years. But now I want to put that energy in other directions. I have less time and many important things competing for that time. But still no extra money for decorating. 

So I have had to think out of the box. For a while I did the barn sale. I have given up a few luxuries and asked for house related things for Christmas and birthday presents. But my mother actually gave me the best "outside the box" idea ever.

She suggested I make a slip cover out of painter's tape and try to win the Scotch Blue Painter's tape Contest. The Grand Prize is $5000. That would make a major dent in finishing stuff around here. And by "finishing stuff" I mean paying other people to do the work so it actually gets done this decade. 

And I did it. 

I spent 30 hours over the last two weeks and figured out how to build a self supporting, structurally independent slip cover out of painter's tape. In theory, I could take it off and put it right back on, as it's not reliant on the chair for its form. I finished this morning.

I promise that's not chintz. Here's a closer look:

All those little bits of color are the brand markers for the two types of ScotchBlue painter's tape I used. The green one is the ScotchBlue Multi-Surface with Edge-Lock TM  Paint Line Protector Painter's Tape. The orange one is ScotchBlue Delicate Surface with Edge Lock TM Paint Line Protection Painter's Tape. The good people at ScotchBlue were generous enough to send me 3 rolls of orange and 2 rolls of the green (I already had another roll of the green that they sent me earlier.) when I asked for it, without even knowing what I was going to do with it. Super generous. Thanks so much guys!

So, are you curious how I did it? 

Here's what I started with:

I made the mistake or starting with the arms. I had this great plan to run a chevron down them, and it was awesome until I tried to reinforce the back. Crash and burn city. I had to throw away 3 hours worth of work. But I did learn the right way to do it from that mistake.

You build and underlying skeleton of the shape you want with tape facing you sticky side out. Then you tape to that. This gives the structure you need, but allows for re-positioning without too much headache.

I used straight pins to keep the tape in place while I was building the design for the back. I removed them as the top layer got closer to the edge. The piece running up the middle was just tomark center so I could make a shot at having the "V" in the right place, as it had to line up with it's mirror image on the seat top.

This picture gives you a better feel for how the chevron pattern builds itself layer after layer.

I used the same technique on the seat, and lined up the stripes. Then I trimmed the seat cover to fill in just the space between the outer piping. I added tape sticky side up to the underside to use as a bridge between the top and the sides.

The tape running horizontally is sticky side up. I lined it up with the piping and then ran the tape from the side over the top and attached it, cutting off the extra after each side was all adhered. Yay for invisible seams!

Here you can really see how nicely the chevron pattern came together. What? Did you think I was just going to do something easy when I had two different colors to work with? Come on. It's a CONTEST. You gotta take it over the top with money like that on the line. 

I started on the arms...again. This time I built the structure first.

In interest of time and my sanity, I decided to just go with stripes from the inside to the seam and then from the seam to the floor. Good choice. It took WAY less time and looked better than the original design had.

Here's the top half finished.

This is about when I stopped panicking...at least about the design coming together.

The fronts of the arms are panels I built flat and reinforced flat. The orange piece of tape right on the edge is one of my cheats. That is directly stuck to the chair fabric. I couldn't figure out any other way to bend it the right way and keep the line. But everything else is structurally independent.

I used the same seaming technique on the outer arms as I did on the seat. Cut to length. Add tape sticky side up. Bring bottom over top and then cut back to correct size while leaving the rest adhered sticky side to sticky side.

Here's the outside arm structure:

Here you can really see how the pins hold things in place until the tape covers that spot. You can also see the sticky side up waiting to meet the other half of the seam. 

Here's the side all finished:

And just for good measure, I did the back as well:

The back also uses the sticky sides together seaming technique along the top and sides.

So there you have it. 

Tons of my life spent recovering a chair with tape the hard way. 

Here's a few more beauty shots. 

I was pretty psyched with how it turned out. Good thing my living room just happens to be orange.

And you can't forget the staging pieces, carefully chosen to coordinate, but not "match" the chair. They set such a happy mood, don't you think?

OK so here's the round up on this project:

TAPE

I really like this tape. In both flavors. I will definitely be using it again, probably in a more normal fashion. I am starting to prefer it over Frog Tape. 

1. It releases from itself without too much trouble and without peeling adhesive off either side, a major plus when working with long strips.

2. You have about 1-3 chances to reposition it without losing tackiness (less with the Delicate, more so with the Multi-Surface). 

3. It holds its shape really well, even when being stretched and bent around corners. 

However

It does not adhere to the slick side of itself very well, so be careful to just have a tiny overlap if you are layering tape to add width. The more surface area you have connected to the actual surface, the better your chances of things going well and not having any drips or bleed through. 

PROJECT

As far as the project itself goes, I just wanted to see if I could do it, both for my own glory and to win the contest. I would not recommend anyone else trying this with the medium I used. It was insanely hard, time consuming, and frustrating.

If you wanted to use tape to build a slip cover, the most functional option would be to use duct tape over an old velvet chair that you hated the fabric of. You could do some really cool designs and the duct tape would probably wear and feel like vinyl. I think that combo could take a lot of abuse. Great for college students short on cash and long on tacky inherited furniture.


Have you guys done anything weird with tape? Built the Leaning Tower of Pisa or something? Tell me about it.

Talk to you soon,

CM Shaw

A gift from Craigslist...and a little more stripping

So I did a bit of shopping since last we talked. 

Project Basement De-junk is in full swing. (If you're just joining us, here's the start to this story) After about two seconds of deep soul searching, I decided to boot the kid's Little Tykes Jungle Gym to the back yard. They have used it as a fort almost daily for years, so I wanted a table that could double as a fort with a blanket thrown over it. Suddenly all pedestal tables were out. Hard to fit a bunch of kids under a table with a pedestal taking up all the under table space. And because this is truly a playroom, with people running around and throwing things and shooting Nerf bullets everywhere, round edges are a must, just to reduce the bruise and head bonk factor a bit. Do you have any idea how rare a four legged round table is on Craigslist? 

Fortunately, the Craigslist Gods smiled on me, as they do from time to time,  and I found the perfect table for my basement craft area. There are even two leaves that I can add to make it perfect for the occasional Girl Scout troop activity I found myself volunteering for the other day.

Isn't it amazingly perfect!? I am IN LOVE with the legs. You remember from this post (I think that was the last time I posted about stripping) that I have a thing for sexy legs.

And get this...the table cost $15!! I am totally not making that up. It felt like a gift from On High and probably was. Don't you love it when the Universe decides to show it's support for your home decorating/organizing adventures? And the cute lady I bought it from was super psyched to hear her table was getting a makeover and a new job as a kid's craft table. Win-win!

As you can see, the top is pretty banged up. And it's a little dark for a space full of white and natural wood furniture. So I got my Citristrip on and had at it.

Don't you love a good action photo? DK took this one for me. I am the thing in the back that looks like a clear garbage bag full of rubbish. Well rather, that's my prize winning nasty paint apron. In any case, look how pretty the underlying wood is! Could. You. Die? 

Nothing like a little naked wood grain to get me all worked up. Whew!

OK, Moving on. The naked part is over.

(Funny how you can actually hear the collective Awwww...Man!)

So when we last saw the basement, it looked something like this:

Yesterday it looked like this:

Here's a better shot of the table in it's place.

You can see the debris is way down and I actually vacuumed! Doesn't the table fit the space so nicely? This is with one leaf in. And just for the record, I love playing Rock'em Sock'em Robots with DK.

The table looks kinda weird at this point, but the top still needs to be sealed and have the base painted. Enter Miss Mustard Seed.

I've had my Miss Mustard Seed Hemp Oil since January, I think, and I've been dying to try it. So I pulled it out and rubbed some right on the raw wood. Wow! What a result. It brings out all the depth in the wood and eliminates all the unevenness in the finish. We'll see how it holds up to kids and paint and glue sticks, but if something gets on it, I can always just sand it down and oil it again. No biggie.

Funny story. Harper, my dog,  walked down into the basement between coats and started sniffing the air. I thought it was the residual smell off the stripper that interested her, so I put her on the table. She walked over and started sniffing at the bottle of hemp oil sitting there and wagging her stump of a tail. As I put on the second coat, she watched intently, waiting for me to drop the rag so she could eat it. So funny! I know it's food grade and all, but probably not a great snack for doggies.

I added a total of two coats of hemp oil and let them dry overnight, then I flipped the table upside down and wiped it down pretty well with a few Clorox wipes. It had been in someone's storage area for a long time. 

With all the white furniture down here, I decided to go with a finish similar to my armoire. (I have so much more to post about this armoire, but that's for another day. Sigh.) Due to my time constraints -I need this done preferably by tomorrow- I opted to go with chalk paint, rather than the sleeker look of an Alkyd. Have I posted about the Alkyd paint yet? Sheesh. Too much life and not so much time to blog. Long story short, I opted for Annie Sloan Pure White, mostly because I just bought a can. 

I think chalk paint looks it's best when it's distressed, so I will do just a slight distress, like the corners of the armoire here. 

So table upside down, paint out, nasty painting apron on, and I realize I still need to mask the top of the table. Well lucky me, a few weeks ago the kind people at Scotch Blue sent me another roll of tape to try. I do so love free product to play with.

This is a newer product from their painter's tape line. It's called 2093 EL with Edge Lock. It is a lot tackier going on than the regular scotch blue tape. Here's their page on it for everything you'll ever want to know about it. So far, I like it, but I haven't taken the tape off yet.

Usually I would unscrew the legs to paint a table like this, but the screw body of this particular leg kept unscrewing with the nut, so I decided to be lazy and just paint everything together. I may regret that decision later, but for now, I'm fine. You can see how I taped right up to the frame. I'll let you all know how it turns out. 

BTW, this pic is after one coat of ASCP. I did two more.

This is what my basement currently looks like, just imagine the paint a little denser, as this is after the second coat and I did three:

And I hate to do this to you all, but I 'm gonna leave you hanging until I get it all done for the big reveal. Mean, I know, but it's not done yet. Plus it will give us both something to look forward to.

What have you all been working on lately? I love hearing about your projects.

Talk to you soon,

CM Shaw

Adventures with ScotchBlue Painter'sTape : How to Make Chalk Board Blocks

You guys know that I am a sucker for free products to try ( I really do get all jittery excited when I get product packages in the mail that someone just randomly offers to give me to try), so when the good people at ScotchBlue Tape offered me two FREE roles of tape to fool around with, I was all over it. The caveat here (and there is usually some kind of obligation) is that I have to enter a project using their tape in a national contest. The prize is $5,000! You guys can enter too, if you're quick. Here's the link. The contest closes July 15th . I did say you had to be quick.

You all also know that I have a tendency to get way over involved in things....and this project is no exception to that. In fact, If I wasn't entering the contest, I would break this into three different posts. But I am, so you get it all in one, long "three-techniques-for-the-price-of-one" post. 

So today's project is:

Two Sided Chalk Board Blocks: 

One colored side for free drawing,

One black board house side for decorating

How to Make Two-Sided Chalk Board Blocks

Part 1: Basic Chalk-Painted Blocks

1. Get a bunch of slices of wood. This is a good project to pillage your scrap pile for. Since you are painting them, you can even use different types of wood. These were free from Home Depot. DK and I found them sitting in plastic bags near the cutting table when we got our board cut for the pipe curtain rod (that I still haven't posted about, for shame!) last spring. We asked the guy what he was going to do with them, and he said, "You want them?" He was happy not to have to haul them to the trash can and I was psyched to have free wood to play with. These are all about 6 x 6 inches square, give or take an inch. You could also just buy a 2 x 6 and cut that up. Be sure there aren't many knots. They don't lend themselves to paint and sanding very well. If you have a bag of free end cuts or spare wood from the pile, use pieces that don't have knots and that are not bowed in any direction.

2. Sand off all the rough patches and splinters on your wood. Remember, this is a toy, and you don't want your kids to get splinters or scratched. I used my trusty palm sander and sanded twice. Once with a 150 grit and once with a 220 grit, until everything, but the roughest edges (I probably should have re-cut those) was smooth to the touch.

In case you didn't believe me about the trash, take a look at the front block. Thanks again for the free wood, Steve C!

3. Choose your paint color. I used my scrapbook paper to determine my paint color, but if you are just making simple blocks and are not nuts or entering a TAPE oriented contest like me, then you can choose whatever color of ASCP or "Clay and chalk based" paint you want. In fact, you might just go look in your paint stash and see what you already have, like I did. You don't need very much paint for this project, unless you are making a whole bunch of blocks.

And I mixed a bunch of colors to get the right shades for what I needed. In fact, I don't think I used a color straight for the whole project.

If you want black, go buy a can of spray blackboard paint at Walmart. It's like $4 a can in the paint department. You'll only need one can.

4. Paint your blocks. Annie Sloan recommends 3 coats to make a chalk board surface, so I went with that. I painted top and the four sides, but left the bottom mostly blank, because I am doing another technique there. If you are just making painted blocks, you need to paint ALL the sides, top and bottom included. 

I sanded in between each coat using a 220 grit paper, just to be sure the surface was nice and smooth. I even sanded to top coat, just a hair.

If you are just making plain chalk board blocks, let the paint dry and then you are pretty much done! If you want to "season" the paint, let it dry overnight and then  rub white chalk all over all faces of the block. Then erase the whole thing. 

At this point, you're ready to go! Draw away.

This is an "action shot" of what they look like after being drawn on by real children.

Part 2: Laminating Scrapbook Paper to Wood

OK, this is where it gets a bit more relevant to the contest, but where I go WAY off the beaten path of just regular painted blocks. You can also just use this technique to laminate a capital letter to a scrap of wood or a picture or silhouette you like to a plaque. 

 

5. Choose what you will be "laminating" to your wood. This is the focal point of your piece and should probably dictate your background color choice.

If the piece you have chosen will cover most of the front of your wood, skip to step 6. 

If your piece is smaller and will allow a bunch of the background to be seen, paint all visible front and sides of your wood. Be sure to sand as needed between coats. Do any desired distressing once the paint is dry. Do NOT wax your paint! Now skip to step 7.

6. When you are painting your blocks, be sure that just a little bit gets on the edges of the bottom. This allows a little wiggle room when you are placing your scrap book paper. Plus it makes a nice transition between the paper side and the painted side. You can even do it while you are painting the rest of the sides, so you don't have to wait.

Find a small piece of flat wood, and use it to keep the painted edges of the bottom from touching your base. 

It took me until the last two boards to figure this out. Up to that point I just dry brushed the paint on and put it down on the table. It worked fine too. But the small piece of wood worked better.

7. Once everything is dry and sanded, cover up everything you don't want to get Modge Podge and sealer on with tape. I used ScotchBlue tape in the 1.47 inch width. It almost completely covered the side edges. I didn't worry about the bottom, but if you are worried, you could cover that with paper or plastic and use the tape to hold it in place.

8. Cut out your piece to be laminated. For me this was a process of sizing my scrapbook paper to to the board I was working on. I lined up two sides with the raw edges of the paper and then creased it to get the right size of the other two edges. You can do this for all four edges, if the design or picture you want is in the middle of the paper.

Then I just cut along the creased lines.

It's better to cut things too big and then make small adjustments. You can see how small the sections I was cutting off were. It's a bummer if you cut something too small and have to start over or find something else to use. When in doubt, cut larger and then adjust down.

9. Dry fit everything you are planning to use on the actual board you are planning to use. This may sound like a "no brainer", but it will save you tons of frustration in the long run. Just lay everything out to be sure you like it all together and to get a good feel for where everything will be adhered.

10. Apply Modge Podge to the area where you will be putting your paper designs. If you are covering a large area, put the Modge Podge on the board and then lay your paper on top of that. 

If you are only using a small area, put the Modge Podge directly on your paper pieces and then lay them on the board.

Be sure to smooth out all air bubbles from under your piece. It helps to smooth from the center to the edges. And be sure your edges are very secure. This is where your adhesive tends to fail the most.

11. Let your Modge Podge dry under something heavy. I prefer books shoved in gallon size zip locked bags. It prevents the books from sticking to what ever they are weighing down. I left things to dry for 30 minutes. I could have just turned my blocks over and let their own weight press them down, but I was afraid they would stick to the paper on the table. If you put down clean plastic, this would not be an issue.

12. Once the Modge Podge is dry, apply three coats of Varathane Polyurethane in a Matte finish. I think I bought it at Lowes about a year ago. It cost around $4-5. I like Varathane better than using the Modge Podge for the top coat because it dries much smoother and much much matte-er. But you can use Modge Podge, if it's all you've got.

I just apply it with a crappy brush, but I've heard that foam brushes leave less brush marks, if you're worried about that. You do not need to sand between coats. The can recommends allowing two hours of drying time between coats, so that's what I did. Then I left them overnight.

If you are just laminating something to your wood, you're done! Go hang it on a wall or place it on your mantle 

and show all your friends. 

Well done. 

Part 3: How to Make a Black Board Silhouette 

Using a Tape Stencil

You all still with me? I promise this is the last section. This is where the tape plays a major role. I LOVE this technique. There are so many cool thing you could do with it! You can create whatever silhouette shape you want with this and then draw on it! So cool.

13. Get some wax paper that is a bit larger than your base piece. You want to allow enough extra room that the tape you are going to use cane wrap all the way around the edges of your piece and protect it from all over-spray.

14. Make a crease in the wax paper around the side of your base piece so you have a good idea how big an area you need to cover with tape.

15. Start layering strips of tape on the wax paper. Be sure to over lap the tape at least 1/4 of an inch. And make sure the tape will be long enough to wrap all the way over the edge to protect the whole base of your project from over-spray.

16. Once the whole area is covered in tape, put the wax paper over your base wood piece and using a Sharpie, draw a line around the edge of your piece. You want to keep this as close to accurate as possible. You will use this line to help you judge where your cut out will go on the finished piece.

17. Make an actual size sketch of your silhouette shape. I cut the paper to the same size as my block face, then sketched a rough design. Next,  I used a ruler to tighten it up the lines. Once you like the sketch, cut it out. Include everything you want in your final piece because this is your template for the stencil.

18. Cut out your shape and dry fit it on the original piece of backer wood. This is where you make any necessary adjustments in size. Trim a bit on the edge so it won't over lap. Figure out how you want the silhouette to relate to the back ground. I moved some of the houses I made up or to the side to accommodate designs in the paper behind them. Some I put lower or centered, because I liked the way it looked better. This is the time to make those judgment calls, while you can still easily move everything.

19. Use a Sharpie and trace your cut out on to the tape and wax paper, using the outline as a placement guide. I also put my tape wax paper ON the board, so I could feel where the edges really were.

20. Using an Exacto knife, cut along the inside edge of your Sharpie version of your silhouette. I always put my cutting mat under my work when I am using a blade, but a piece of cardboard works pretty well too. Be sure that any corrections you make are on the inside piece you will be removing, not the outside piece, as the paint will show any major miss cuts.

21. Give the cut out portion to your 7 year old to use as a sticker that can be drawn on. Be sure that when you peel the wax paper off, you peel it from the side you started layering the tape on from. Look for the tape that's most covered. And pull upwards or over from there. If you go the other way, it will all pull apart.

22. Very carefully remove the wax paper from the tape, starting with the very bottom-most piece of tape and peeling away from that. "Bottom most" means the piece of tape that has all the other layers of tape stacked on it. You will only see one side of the original piece of tape.This helps keep the stencil together. If you pull the other way, it can all come apart, one strip at a time.

23.Using the Sharpie outline as a guide, carefully place the tape stencil on your wood base. Pay attention to all the details you figured out with the template, where the silhouette is in relation to elements int he background, the edges, etc. Now is your last chance to change anything. Be sure to press down firmly all over the tape. Put special emphasis on the inner edges of the stencil, to help protect against bleed through. Make sure all the tape is wrapped tightly around the side edges as well. This protects everything from any over-spray.

24. Place your taped board on a surface that can get spray painted. This is a garbage bag on the floor of my garage. As you can see, I decided it was a good idea to make 5 instead of just one. Why I do this, I have no idea. 

Be sure to check your tape again on the inside edge (design edge) of the stencil. Push it down so every bit of it is secure.

25.Spray two coats of spray chalk board paint on your stencil. Be sure to wait the appropriate amount of time between coats. This info is usually on the can and may vary by brand. I used Rustoleum Chalk Board paint. They said to re-coat after 20 min but before 1 hr. I let the paint dry overnight and then took the tape off.

Once the tape comes off, you're pretty much done.

If you get any bleed through, and I ALWAYS have at least a little no matter what tape I use, you can clean up the light spray with regular old acetone. Rub gently with a cotton swab until it disappears. For larger, denser spots, you need to touch them up with paint. I tried Mr. Clean Eraser as well, but all it did was rub out the Poly-urethane and start tearing up my paper. Don't do that. Since my background was paper and not paint, I just decided to live with the small spots. My kids don't care. 

If I were to make these to sell, I would just paint the whole block in ASCP and lose the scrapbook paper. Then you could touch up any mistakes after stenciling and have it be pretty flawless.

At this point, your stenciled piece looks something like this:

And if you like it that way, then you can stop here.

I like the look of a seasoned chalk board, so I went ahead and seasoned mine.

To season a chalkboard, you just rub white chalk all over it and then erase it.

And then it looks like this:

And when your kids get finished playing with it, it looks like this:

And when they turn their blocks over to the back side (because they will have 

claimed them for themselves by this point), they can do this:

and create whatever they want. and then erase it all and draw something else.

I think this one's my favorite.

So there it is is. 

How to make your own two sided chalk board blocks 

with stuff you probably already have.

Thanks for making it the whole. way. through.

Whew!

And thanks to ScotchBlue Tape, for giving me a reason to try something new.

All opinions here are my own. They just gave me free tape. I'll let you know if I win.

Talk to you soon,

CM Shaw