The other night I dreamed that Jay’s sister received a beautiful set of china as a wedding gift. Along with the china was a set of silverware with gorgeous ceramic handles. The problem was that the handles were very long and thin (like paint brush handles) and ended in a rather sharp point. The handles had to have been at least 12″ long!

Even in my dreams I can’t get away from paint brushes!

Last week I showed you the first samples that I painted:

I used latex paint for the tiger. I used wood stain and acrylic paints for the wolf. I really wasn’t impressed with either of them. So I moved on to the second set of samples.

Samples #2:

Both of these were painted with the chalky acrylic paints. I have to say that I like the tiger a LOT better with this paint. I was also trying to figure out how I wanted to paint the eyes. I think I’m going to paint it like the one on the left.

As for the wolf, I wasn’t happy with this version. I definitely need to make the eyes stand out. Also, Jay had used a wider bit on this so the lines aren’t as sharp. On the final carvings he used the sharp bit so it should give me some really nice lines to follow. Oh, and just as a comparison, this is how big the actual carvings are as compared to my samples:

It took me over an hour to paint the stripes on the little tigers alone! I don’t know how long it will take to paint the big one. I have decided that I’m definitely using the chalk paints, though. I really like the coverage that I got with it.

As for the wolf, Jay and I both like the sharpness of the dark lines on the first one.

His coworker didn’t think his daughter would be into the wood grain look, though. Jay and I also are not crazy about the brown parts, either. I told Jay that what I could do is stain the wolf first in order to fill in the lines and then paint it in using the chalky paint. I decided to give this a try with the first sample.

First I painted the inside of the face with the lighter gray.

There is only one coat of paint on this sample. The finished version I will actually do two.

Then I painted over the brown with a dark gray.

Again, I only have one coat of it on here, but I think I’m getting closer. I would definitely do a second coat to darken it a bit more. I like the nose and eyes, but I’m unsure of the ears. Should I make them the same color as the nose? Make it a shade of gray in between the other two shades? I guess I’ll figure it out as I go along.

I have painted the white base of the big tiger. When I have a few hours to spare I will sit down and start painting the stripes. I do not look forward to that!