tutorial on staining

I had never worked with stain before but noticed the lovely results on other blogs.

I took the risk of using stain on a lovely painted picture frame and was really pleased with the results.

Stain is easy to work with and cleans up well...so I decided to share my experience with it.

I used True Value's EasyCare in Linen White to paint the frame. Because I painted it last fall,

 I don't know how much time there needs to be between painting and staining -

perhaps the pros that are in blogland may have an opinion on that.

unstained, painted frame

staining supplies

the sponge brush is important because it gets in the design crevices

be sure all of it is stained or it will look like this

i used hub's wornout undershirt to wipe it until i was satisfied with the way it looked

work with small areas until you get the feel of it

and check for runs like this

 the stain is workable for a bit as it takes a good 24 hours to dry

wipe it with a cloth until it blends in with the rest

the rubbing part is an individual choice

the more you rub the lighter color it will be

it's easy, fun and very doable with lovely results!

finished product

gotta love it!

...blessedness!

ox