Rustic Wood Bench Meets IOD Painterly Roses Stamp and DIY Paints
Oh, how I love to play with paint! Add in Iron Orchid Designs stamps and I’m over the moon.
So when I found a rustic bench growing roots in my storage, I combined the IOD Decor Stamp Painterly Roses with some DIY Paint (chalk and clay based paint) and Voila’!!
Watch the video to see how I transformed the bench, or read the steps here to create your DIY project. Or watch and read...
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Wait! What Did I Use On This Rustic Bench?
I use an Iron Orchid Designs decor stamp and DIY Paints ( a chalk and clay paint) on a rough wood surface. Did I mention how much I love roughed up surfaces? Well, now you know!
All the supplies listed link directly to the products on Serendipity.house website - click, buy, and have fun!
Supplies For This Project
IOD Brayer [for applying paint]
IOD Thin Mounts [to mix paint shades]
Rough rustic bench [or something white and smooth for a totally different look.]
IOD Stamps
If this is your first time using the Iron Orchid Designs decor stamps, read through this info, then come right back here! You’ll be glad you learned these valuable tips before using your IOD stamps.
Step One: Take Apart The Painterly Rose Stamp
PRO TIP: After conditioning the stamp, cut apart the pieces but leave them on the backing. After the stamp is loaded with paint, the backing helps you hold it, place it, and remove it after easily.
The Painterly Roses stamp builds a rose by layering three different stamps and getting more detail with each layer. It comes with 4 sizes to use for ‘background’ stamps, which go on first.
There are multiple choices for the detailed stamps to overlay on top of the background stamp. And the secret sauce is using different shades of the same color as you build those layers.
I'm using 3 different shades of DIY Paints "Kissing Booth" pink in my project, so read on to see how I created the medium and light tones.
Step Two: Mix The Shades of Paint
I start by putting 1 large “dollop” and two smaller “dollops” of the main color I’m going to use onto an IOD Thin Mount to mix my 3 shades. "Dollop sounds like a measurement from one of my Grandma’s recipes - but watch the video at minute 1:29 for how much Kissing Booth and White Swan I actually pour.
The large dollop I’ll use as the darkest shade. I add a small amount of white paint to one of the small dollops to mix the medium color. And, a bit more white paint to get the lightest shade.
Step Three: Apply DIY Paint to The Stamp And Go!
I’ll stamp the lightest shade first using the largest of the four, plain background stamps. Taking the IOD brayer (minute 2:20) I roll it in the lightest shade of paint and load it up, then roll the brayer directly onto my stamp piece.
Here’s The Fun Part
Once loaded with paint, I turn the stamp over and place it where I want it on the bench surface and press firmly (but not too hard) on the stamp. I lift the stamp straight up to remove.
I repeat this process to cover the bench, reapplying paint to the brayer as I go to get the coverage I’m looking for. I don’t need perfect, uniform coverage, though, since I’ll be stamping over them with the more detailed rose stamp in the next darker shade.
Step Four: Time to Add More Detail
I’m a visual person so, using a couple of the background sizes, I fill in empty spaces. When I see enough base flowers, I grab the smaller, detailed rose stamps and switch my paint color. (minute 4:10)
But, for a different blended look, I add a mix of the middle shade and the pure color onto my brayer to get an ombre effect on some of the roses.
I randomly add some rosebuds, too, in the middle shade of pink. (minute 6:47) The rosebud has two pieces - the bud and the stems/leaves. I’ll add the leaves and stems in green later.
Finally, I load the smallest rose detail stamp with pure color and apply on top of the roses. This gives depth and dimension but I’m not trying to make a perfect stamp.
Step Five: Adding Leaves, Stems, and Vines
Time to mix the green for leaves. I’m switching a paper plate mixing palette, putting DIY Paint in Aviary (the green) and White Swan side by side. I roll my brayer in both to get a slightly marbled effect by mixing them as I roll on the plate and onto the stamp. (minute 10:25)
Can you change your mind about the shade of your paint color? Yes! I go a bit darker as I progress across my bench with the rosebud stems. You know me - I like to go with the flow and see where my piece takes me!
Pro Tip: even if I get a stamp in the ‘wrong place’ or it moves, I still commit to it.
Around the bigger flowers, I use a three-leaf stamp (minute 13:19) and mixed green color, re-applying paint after every stamping to get the effect I want. The leaves are curved stamps and I place them so they appear to naturally hug the roses.
I use different sizes of the three-leaf stamp across the bench, adding them to roses whenever I feel - visually - they need to go.
As I get ready to add the long stems to the rosebuds, a confession: my stem pile is a mixture from several IOD stamps! I’m probably using different stems here (minute 18:04) but you’ll use the Painterly Roses stems.
Still using the green, I use parts of the branch stamp to add stems to my rosebuds. I vary the shade of green and the length of the stems for the rosebuds. I like the result when the stamp is halfway filled with paint.
Step Six: Filling In The Vines
The Painterly Roses stamp comes with a ‘vine branch’ stamp to connect the roses - as if they were growing on a vine. I didn’t leave much room between mine, but I can still add small vines by using just a section of the stamp. You should add as many of the vines as you think your project needs.
The Final Look: Painterly Roses On A Rustic Bench
The surface I stamped on was very rough but I like a chippy paint look. If you were stamping onto a smooth, white background the results would be much different. But you know what? For this project - I’m even going to rough it up a bit more with a light sanding!
Now that you've watched and read through this tutorial - go create!