Gold Clay Deer Antlers

I have no desire to stand out in the freezing cold, toting a rifle and not talking for hours in order to ‘hunt’ deer.
But, I really wanted a pair of deer antlers for my office.
I don’t know why. I don’t wear plaid or own a gun rack. (But, to be fair, I did make a coat rack from deer hooves…)
If you aren’t into the whole ‘antler’ thing, you can use this same tutorial and make what you do fancy such as a cute bird, a turtle, or you child’s hand impression.
Get crazy. Get creative.

Circumventing the whole ‘fun’ hunting experience, I decided to make my own deer antlers from clay that you can bake in the oven.
I believe Bambi is happy with my decision, which makes me happy.

What you’ll need to make your own set of antlers, or anything else you fancy:
Oven Bake Clay
Picture Frame
Gold (or your preference) spray paint
Scissors & ruler
Fabric (I used faux black fur with a short nap)
Scrap Plywood
Hot Glue Gun
Staple gun & staples
(2)Screws
Drill with a drill bit the same size as your screws
Jig Saw

Trace the inside of your frame onto your scrap plywood.
My fancy ‘frame’ is actually a light cover that I picked up at Habitat for Humanity for $1. Boo yeah.

Using your jig saw with a wood blade, cut out your traced image.
Before covering your piece of plywood with your fabric, make sure that it fits into your frame first. Cut or sand off any necessary edges.

Find the center of your piece of plywood and measure an equal distance from the center to the right and left if you are doing antlers.
If not, you are on your own to decide where you would like your creation to screw into the plywood.

Pre-drill holes into your plywood that will receive your screws.

Cut out enough fabric that will wrap around the edges of your plywood. Use your staple gun to attach the fabric to your plywood.
Hammer those staples down if they get ornery and try to stick up.

Cut away the excess material from your piece of plywood. Cut out a second piece of fabric that will cover the back of the plywood, attaching it with a hot glue gun.
I recommend before you cover your plywood completely with fabric, flip over your plywood to the front and stick a couple of nails through the fabric, into the pre-drilled holes.

Time to make your fun creation from the oven bake clay!
I used a knife, a chopstick and my little mittens to shape out some cute antlers.
Again, get crazy and get creative. It’s my mantra today.

Stick your screws into the bottom or the backside of you creation. Make sure the clay is completely surrounding the screw and there is no play.
Bake your creation according to the manufacturer’s instructions.

Spray your creation with your choice of spray paint with several light coats to avoid drips.

Gently hand tighten your creation into the plywood. I got a little crazy and broke the screws free from my antlers as I was tightening them in.
But, I fixed it with super glue. It held the screws in much better and it didn’t bat an eye at my apparently enormous muscles….

I love the antlers, but I could also see a cute, gold bird in the center of this frame too. Or an apple. Or a butterfly.
And I do have some leftover clay and a glass of red wine…hm….

My Lamp, My Lamp, My Lovely Leftovers Lamp

Check it out!
While Biceps and I were on a romantic date at Habitat for Humanity, I scored a swag light down rod and a trash can cover for $1. He always takes me to the coolest places. I knew I could make something from them, and he couldn’t argue with the price.

You may already know that I have an affinity for log-inspired pieces around my home. (Check out my Mod Log Table). While passing by one of my rent houses, I saw a felled tree and grabbed a chunk of it from an old pal’s front yard. With my two Habitat pieces in hand and now my chunk o’ log, history was about to be made.
Or at least a ‘Lovely Leftovers Lamp’.

Here’s what you’ll need to make your own ‘Lovely Leftover Lamp’.
A drill with a paddle bit (I used a 1”)
Router or a Skill Saw
Belt or Palm Sander with 40 & 80 grit paper
Polyurethane and Foamy Brush
Tape Measure
Chunk o’ Log with the cross-cuts parallel to each other (mine is 3 1/2” tall and 7” in diameter)

You’ll also need:
Trash Can Cover (mine was 8 1/2” in diameter-you could use fancy tin cans, or learn how to make your own Cutey Cans)
Swag Down Rod
Additional Wiring, wire nuts & Switch (if the old wiring is sketchy looking)
Spray Paint that matches your trash can cover
3” Threaded Rods
3/16” Threaded Aluminum Posts

I sprayed my 3” Threaded Rods and 3/16” Threaded Aluminum Posts GOLD to match the rest of my lamp.
These little buggers will attach the trash can cover to the down rod.

I sanded my log to be baby smooth, starting with a 40 grit and then moving up to an 80 grit.

After your log is smooth on both sides, measure the diameter of your log and mark the center.
Easy enough.

I used a 1” paddle bit to drill through the center of my log which accommodated the 1” diamater of my down rod. Adjust the size of your bit to the size of your down rod.
If your down rod is bigger than 1”, you may need to use a hole saw (which also attaches to your drill).

Drill all the way through, allowing your drill to rest periodically when the bit gets too hot. A hot drill bit and a lot of sawdust tends to have a weird reaction that I like to call ‘Fire’.

Next, we’ll make a channel on the bottom of our log for the wiring to come through.
It would be best to use a router, but since I didn’t have one, I went with a skill saw that I depth set to 1”. You aren’t cutting through the whole log, just making a channel for your wiring.

I know this channel for my wiring isn’t that pretty, but since it’s the undercarriage of my log (weird) and I will be covering it with some sort of soft feltiness in the long run, I was alright with it. Now that all of the sanding and cutting is done, wipe off your log thoroughly with a microfiber cloth.

Break out the poly and your foamy brush. Apply a thin layer of poly to your log. Let dry according to your manufacturer’s directions. Once the log is dry, use a steel wool to lightly sand the top and bottom, removing any air bubbles.

Re-apply a second coat if you desire. I usually desire.

I needed a longer run of wire, and decided to tie in some white wire that I had leftover from another project, using two wire nuts that didn’t match and one of which was covered in a sticky substance.
Don’t judge. I’m going for cheap here.

Line up the tips of your exposed copper wire which should be about a 1/4” long, and place the wire nut on top of the two wires (Connect the ribbed wire-it will feel like it has ribs on it, to the other ribbed wire. Connect your smooth wire to your smooth wire).

Screw down the wire nut as far as possible and pull the wires away from the wire nut, making sure they are firmly attached. I used electrical tape around the nuts and wires, just as an added precaution.

Place your down rod through the hole you drilled in your log, feeding the wire through the channel on the bottom of your log. You can cover the bottom of your log with felt or fabric using a hot glue gun.
I know you guys like your glue guns. Get crazy.

I wanted a switch on my lamp, and since they are super easy and cheap, I went for it. I like cheap and easy.
Follow the instructions on the package. It took me less than a minute to do this.

Flip your log over. Attach your trash can cover to your down rod by using your spray painted threaded posts and rods. Feed the 3” threaded rods from the outside in, threading it into the top of the down rod where a globe is usually attached. Use your threaded posts to cap the end of the threaded rods on the outside of your trash can cover. If you have a solid cover, you may need to drill out tiny holes for your threaded rods to go through.

Let’s plug it in!

Isn’t it just so purty? I love my new ‘Lovely Leftovers Lamp’!

Funky Gold Medina

I can’t pass up tacky gold objects. I have an addiction,
and I’m alright with that. My lengthy affair with silver seems to be coming to a close.
After browsing one afternoon at Habitat for Humanity, I found two gold light fixture medallions for $1 a piece. And I made this. Want to know how? Read on, sister!

A medallion is the part of the light fixture between the glass that houses the lightbulbs and the ceiling. It covers over the ugly hole in your ceiling cut by your contractor or a housewife that tries to replace a ceiling fixture while her hubby is away.
Not that that’s ever happened.

What you’ll need for this swanky wall hanging:
Light fixture medallion
Oops Paint (2 colors)
Paintbrush
Rubber Cement or White Glue
Textured Wallpaper or textured craft paper
Card Stock or cardboard
Scissors

Trace the inside opening of your medallion onto your card stock and as Uncle Joey used to say, ‘Cut it out!’. Cut a square of textured wallpaper or craft paper out that is slightly bigger than your piece of card stock.

Cover the card stock with a sufficient amount of glue and adhere it to the back side of your wallpaper.
I set a large book on top of the wallpaper to stick the two together.
Sit and wait. I chose to listen to Getz and Gilberto while I was waiting. It was most enjoyable.
Actually, I did a load of laundry and made dinner and returned some phone calls. But a girl can dream, can’t she?

Once your glue has dried, cut away the excess of wallpaper from the card stock circle.

Paint your circle with some of your favorite ‘oops’ or leftover paint you have lying around.
Pay no attention to how messy my brush is in this picture. It was for dramatic emphasis for the reader.

I found a silhouette of a feather that I liked online by, are you ready for this?-googling the words ‘feather silhouette’.
I am a genius.
After tracing the silhouette on your circle, grab your second color of paint and go to town.

Here’s my silhouette taking shape.

After the feather was dry, I mounted the circle into the medallion using double sided foamy squares (the kind used for spacers in scrapbooking and card making).
Then, I hung the finished piece on a tree I have outside. My neighbor just looked at me and asked me what I was doing.
I told her I was decorating the tree.
‘Uh, huh’, she said.
I hung it up in my office eventually, but I just liked messing with my neighbor. She can take it.