I mentioned in my list of things I want to make and do that I wanted to paint a bunny silhouette to remember Harold by, and this weekend I decided to make it happen. I recently ordered the Mr. Pavo Real print I’ve been coveting. I picked up an 11×14 matted frame for it at Family Dollar for $6. Since my frame and the canvas I want to hang next to it are both 11×14, I thought an arrangement of three similarly-sized items would be perfect above the armoire.
So, I cut a piece of my estate sale fabric to 11×14 using my handy dandy cardboard grid, then printed out a silhouette of a bunny from google and slid it under my fabric.
Next, I used a fabric marking pencil to trace the outline.
I gathered black, gray, and white acrylic paints I had on hand and mixed them together for the perfect shade of gray, then added a healthy dose of textile medium.
I used a small foam brush to fill in the silhouette and allowed it to dry, and was left with this (I forgot to take a picture of the front until it was already up on the wall with silver thumbtacks).
Love it. I laid my fabric, frame, and canvas face down on the ground to figure out the spacing. Pistachio did her best to sabotage me at every step.
Then I wrote myself a little roadmap on the back of my printed silhouette to tell me where to put nails into the wall.
I used a pencil and a level with a ruler to mark where to hammer.
Except it was way too high, in my opinion. I had arbitrarily decided that the bottom of the center frame should be 10″ above the dresser and I was tragically wrong. (Excuse the messy room, please. It was the weekend and the livin’ was easy.)
I got Nick to hoist me atop the armoire once again and used the level/ruler to mark new holes exactly 5″ below their predecessors and liked the look much better. I erased my pencil lines and used wood filler and leftover paint to disguise the old holes.
The very next day my Mr. Pavo Real print came in the mail and got to join Mr. Bunny.
I love it. Now I just need to figure out what to do with that canvas. I’m still thinking some sort of word or phrase, but inspiration hasn’t yet struck as to the specifics or how it should look.
I love the casual look of the bunny silhouette just pinned up there, and it’s definitely nice to have a little reminder of the sweet bunny I had for six years. I wonder if I washed it a few times if it would take on a cool aged and distressed look. I worry since the edges aren’t hemmed that a trip through the washing machine would result in a frayed and tangled mess, and hand washing might not be enough to do the job of wearing down the paint. If I did something like this again it might be cool to experiment with blotting the paint off while it’s still wet, but that still probably wouldn’t give it the softness of repeated washings. If you’re less lazy than me and try something like this, hem the edges and run it through the wash a bunch of times and let me know how it turns out!
Silhouette of an 18 wheeler driving toward the bunny.
Just kidding!
Cute idea! By the way, I love the armoire! Is that something you refinished?
Thanks, Britt! Yes, I painted it myself before starting the blog. You can read more about it here and here.
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