Craft Fail to Craft Save

I love this blue painted display stand NOW but it sure didn't start out looking this way!

I put  the candlestick and plate together with E6000 and spray painted the whole shebang with Krylon spray paint in  Blue Ocean Breeze.  I am in love with the color and it gave this simple piece a gorgeous look. It was beeyootiful, trust me on this.

So, and you know there is more to this story; before I took some final pics I sprayed it with clear acrylic sealer to give it a nice protective finish. A clear sealer containing acetone and tuolene. Do you know what those two caustic chemicals do to wonderful, smooth, Ocean Blue painted glass? Aargh! It bubbled and blistered and looked terrible.

I'll spare you the gruesome details and the pics. My beautiful creation suddenly developed a case of severe blue leprosy. My heart fell. Did I cuss? Yes. My kids and The Welding Man say I'm an amateur when it comes to cursing, but hey, it works for me. Back when they were little I used to say "dirty rat fink." Yeah, they still get the giggles over that.

But I digress...on to the rescue!

So I figured it can't look worse and I resorted to my old standby aging technique, crumpled tissue paper and Mod Podge. Don't look at my painting station, it's a wreck. But you can see here that the "save" potential for this project wasn't looking good. Pieces of torn and crumpled tissue cover the top half in this pic. 

Moving on.

Okay, first coat of turquoise acrylic paint. I'm feeling hopeful here.

And a layer of burnt umber glaze. Okay, I can work with this. Feeling a tiny bit better.

And the base, where the leprosy was the worst. This technique adds so much texture and the glazing emphasizes it, so I'm going to call it good, even tho I remember that first, gorgeous smooth painted finish with a sigh. But hey, I really like how this is turning out!

I figured it would look great with the shelf I made from a drawer, and I have to admit, they seem very harmonious together. So, still calling this a save!

And with the various coastal elements this project looks pretty good! However, with my usual tendency to nit pick the details, the base is a slightly different shade from the plate. I'll be fixing that soon. At least this time I was able to salvage the project. Other times I've not been so lucky/clever! But we won't talk about that right now.

Linking up to the parties on the sidebar, you betcha. Come join the fun and see the wonderful projects out there.