Paint your own Autumnal wreath in 5 simple steps

The days are getting shorter and the air is adopting a chill, Autumn is certainly taking a hold both inside and outside of Folky HQ.  

Over the last couple of weeks we have been cracking open those warm orange and golds, deep, rich browns and earthy greens to create a few Autumnal projects to fit with this months #funwithfolkit theme.  After sharing this on social media, so many of you asked for the pattern so here is a quick tutorial.  

You will need: 

Practice paper, transfer and tracing paper*

pencil

A brown, green, gold and red paint 

(Sandra used Asphaltum and Autumn Red but you could use Traditional Burnt Sienna and Country Red)

We also used Emperors Gold and Avocado

No 3 Round Brush & Dotting tool*

*Available in our Round Brush Starter Kit 

Step 1: Take your pattern and transfer it onto your practice paper or project 

Step 2: To paint your comma strokes, fill your round brush with Avocado or Raw Umber and tip your brush with the Emperors Gold (a technique taught in our Daisy Details kit) 

Step 3: Paint alternating bunches of green and brown comma strokes to add variety to your wreath. 

Step 4: Using the red, add berries around the wreath and leave to dry. 

Step 5: Add a little gold to your brush and on a paper towel, gently rub off the excess. Dry brush a little gold over each of the berries and dot a little brown in each one. 

Your wreath is now complete! If you fancy a more festive look, why not try using two shades of green and red and gold or use a paler green and grey tipped with silver - this would look great finished with white and silver mistletoe berries! 

Happy Folking everyone x   

Paint your own pumpkin tray - perfect for Halloween

You will need:

You Can Folk It! Brushes & Tools: 

Medium Liner, Flat Brush, Dotting Tool

DecoArt Americana: Tangelo Orange, Burnt Umber, Warm White, 

Avocado, Bright Yellow

Other: Practice paper, tracing paper, transfer paper

Before painting your project, practice all the elements on the practice paper. (You can find the patterns on our Folk It patterns Pinterest board.)  It's always a good idea to try painting the larger Pumpkin from the practice sheet first before moving onto the smaller ones.

1. Add a touch of Burnt Umber to Tangelo Orange and paint around the stem

2. Add a touch of Burnt Umber to Warm White and paint the stem

3. Add water to Burnt Umber and with this watery mix & your liner brush apply uneven diagonal lines to the stem

4. Add a touch of Tangelo Orange to Warm White and starting at the back paint each section of the Pumpkin using a 'C' stoke. 

5. Apply a second coat of this mix if necessary.  Tangelo Orange is a transparent colour, therefore we are creating a base so that the colour stays vibrant.  If you are painting onto a light coloured surface you can omit this step.

6. Next apply a coat of Tangelo Orange to the front sections.

7. Float Burnt Umber. (This is a technique we teach in our Flat Brush Cupcakes and Babushka kit) Before beginning this step, study the pumpkin below for a moment, bearing the following in mind... The Burnt Umber is going to create a shade, so we are floating the darker colour to any section that is behind another.  

8. Float Warm White on the edges of the Pumpkin that sit in front of another.  By using this technique, we help flat objects take shape. To the eye, dark colours recede so look further away and light colours advance and so appear closer. 

9. Make a wash with your flat brush using plenty of water and Bright Yellow and apply over the whole Pumpkin, see how this has reduced the whiteness of the floated highlights, this is a great way to dull your floated colours if you have just started learning...it also gives the Pumpkin a lovely warm glow.

10. The leaves are created using the wiggle stroke as taught in the Butterflies lesson, a comma stroke using the flat brush and combining the 2 together.  If you have not yet progressed to this level, then use your favourite leaf. 

11. The blossoms are as taught in the Oriental Blossom Lesson.  Use Warm White to paint each of the Petals and apply dots using Burnt Umber & Tangelo Orange.  

Once you are happy with your skills, you can create your final design.  If you wanted to create your own wreath design, you can learn more about how to do that here. To create your wreath, begin by painting the pumpkins.  When painting the stalks, try to paint them in different directions to add variety. 

Next, add your leaves.  Using single leaves and clusters, aim to fill the majority of your circle.  If you do not feel comfortable using the ruffled technique, use whichever technique you do feel comfortable with.  We painted leaves in a few sizes, again to add interest to the design.  

Next, add single blossom flowers around the wreath - don't worry if they overlap areas you have already painted.  Finally, identify any areas that look empty and add dots (using the small end of your dotting tool) and small comma strokes using your liner brush.  

To seal your work, you could use DecoArt wax however, if you have painted a tray as we have done, it is better to opt for a couple of coats of varnish to protect your project.  

How to paint wreaths - part 3

We may have welcomed another month of the painting challenge this August but our head is still buzzing with ideas from last months wreath theme. The answer? To combine them both of course! This August, we took out our bright paints and set to work creating this beautiful heart wreath. Painted wreaths can come in all shapes and sizes as you demonstrated last month and we love this heart shaped one.

Here's the colours we opted for - styling our roses with a lighted background and more vibrant petals to really make them pop but have a play with colour and see which colours you prefer and find a look that suits your style.  

When we began to paint this idea, we did wonder what we had let ourselves in for. After all, when you have a new idea buzzing away in your head that you are excited about, it can be a little scary to try and translate that onto the page for fear that it won’t measure up to your imagination. We were so pleased when the risk paid off and so we have put together a little tutorial to help you create your own heart wreath. We have drawn the template using circles where the roses should be painted, however there is nothing stopping you from replacing those circles with daisies, oriental blossom flowers, or even butterflies if you’re really thinking outside the box. Try something new today.

Step 1: Using your template and transfer paper (this can be found in the starter kits or in our online shop) to transfer the po using your template and transfer paper (this can be found in the starter kits or in our online shop) to transfer the pattern to whatever surface you’re working on. Depending on surface you may need to resize the pattern to fit.

Step two: Begin by painting the circles that will make up your Vintage Roses. Using the role of three/five from the first instalment of this wreath series, we filled in 5 circles using the pink and three circles of each other colour. If you are painting on black paper as we did,  you may find you need two coats of paint for each circle.  When these are dry, add the centres and the petals.  As you can see we have alternated the direction of the flowers around the heart and this has been marked on the pattern for you.

Step three: Once your Vintage Roses are dry, begin filling in your leaves. Here we used the round brush leaves as taught in our vintage rose kit.

Step 4: Once your leaves are dry, add the fillers to your heart. Here we used plain dots as well as dot roses in a variety of colours but you could add Dottie daisies or any other small design you wish.  As we mentioned earlier in the series,  keep taking a step back to look at your design as a whole and see if there is anywhere that needs filling.

Step five: finally using the liner brush from either  of our starter kits, add stalks to the leaves using comma strokes.

This would look great painted on to a A4 board and framed or onto a canvas.  If you have a go at painting this gorgeous wreath, do tag us on social media or use #funwithfolkit 

Happy Folking x 

How to paint a wreath - part 2

So, the other day, we had a go at building a floral wreath, combining a few flowers and features to paint a full wreath.  This week, we are going to look at a few other options to consider when you are designing your own unique pattern.

Option 1: The incomplete wreath

This option works with a circle but instead of wrapping your design around the whole circle, it consists of two halves.  Here, we used our Oriental blossom which gave us an irregular shape but you could adapt this to use Rosebuds, daisies or a mix of flowers.

Step 1: Draw your circle lightly using a compass and pencil or by drawing round a circle using the chalk paper to transfer your markings.

Step 2: Imagine you cut your circle in half horizontally. Like last time, we are going to work closely to the circle but won't be afraid to detour slightly.  Starting just above the half way line on the right hand side, draw your branch outline and finish at the opposite side. Add small branches on both sides of your line, again following the route of the circle.  Next, leave a gap and draw a similar line from the left side round to the right.  Now you should have two branches trailing the circle shape.  Paint your branch using a shade of brown of your choice.

Step 3: Using the rule of 3 or 5, add your blossom flowers where you like.  This will mean you will end up with 1 or 2 on the bottom branch and 2 or 3 blossom flowers on the top branch depending on how big your circle is and what you prefer.

Step 4: Finish your wreath by adding individual petals one by one.  This is where you will need to keep taking a step back and seeing where your design looks too empty or where you need to even up your pattern.

Option 2: The Floral wreath

This wreath is quite tight and is perfect for those smaller flowers like rosebuds, lavender heads or dotty flowers.

Step 1: Begin by drawing a short line from your circle towards the inside of the circle, following the line of the circle.  Next, about 1.5cm/2cm along the line, draw a line away from the circle. Continue to draw alternating lines around the whole circle.

Step 2:  Using your liner brush, paint a line around the circle (but don't paint the stalks yet). Add a rosebud to the end of each line you have drawn (as you can see each rosebud follows the direction of the stalk).

Step 3: Fill in the gaps between each rose bud with s stroke leaves.  As you can see, we could fit one leaf in most of the spaces in the inner ring and 1 or two leaves between the roses on the outer circle.  Keep observing your wreath as you paint. The key to creating an eye catching wreath is to space out your elements and not squash too many things in to one space.

Step 4: Using your liner brush, paint stalks from the rosebuds and from each leaf to your original circle.

Step 5: Take a look at your wreath. Are there any areas that feel empty? We found a few and used the small end of our dotting tool to add three dots in places to complete the design and even up the wreath.

Option 3: The curved wreath

This is a great design for when you want to paint a limited number of elements such as lavender or foliage.  If you haven't attended one of our painting workshops and aren't sure how to paint lavender, you can easily use our dotty lavender from the Flat Brush Starter kit 

Step 1: Imagine you have used a curved line to divide your circle in to sections.  Draw the last section of these lines across the circle, keep turning your page as you draw each one to make sure they flow in the same direction.  You should end up with something like this (above). If you do not feel confident drawing out this template, pop over to our patterns board to use ours.

Step 2: Using your round brush or dotting tool, paint each lavender stalk using purple (we used Plum from our Flat Brush Starter kit and white).  If, like we found, this created a nice wreath but left quite a bit of space in between the stalks, add extras in between to fill your wreath out nicely.

Step 3: Step back and take a look at your wreath.  Are there any spaces? Using your liner brush and some green paint (we used Hauser light green) we added a few long comma strokes to fill some areas.  We also used the small end of our dotting tool to again even up the circle.

We do hope you enjoy these patterns and ideas and if you do create a design after reading this post we would love to see it - just tag us or use #funwithfolkit to share.

Happy Folking x

How to paint a wreath - part 1

Wreaths are everywhere at the moment aren't they?! Whether they are being handpainted during an Instagram video, adorning a greetings cards or being featured on some gorgeous stationary, their popularity shows no signs of waning.

We have certainly seen the attraction of wreaths since launching our Folky Christmas kit a few years ago.  There is something so relaxing about layering up the different shades of paint and creating the wreath design to create a beautiful festive greetings card. However, what was once a symbol of the Christmas period has now become much more versatile. Whether they are made of flowers, ribbon, photos or pom poms, there is a wreath for every style and every occasion and this is also becoming the case for those wreaths we paint.

For our #funwithfolkit painting challenge this month, we have been focusing on wreaths and it is clear that this has captured the imagination of so many of you.  If you don't fancy creating your own classic foliage wreath from our Dotty Collection painting kit, we thought we would put together a few steps to help you create your own painted wreaths using the kits you already have.

Step 1: Create a guide for you to work to by drawing round a circle or using a compass.  If you feel like you would like more structure to work with, draw a smaller circle within the larger circle.

Step 2: When creating your wreath, it helps to balance out some of the larger elements (e.g. vintage roses or daisies) with smaller elements (dotty flowers and leaves) The great thing here is that there are no limits - you can include what you want and leave out flowers or brushstrokes that you are less confident with.  A good tip to remember is to stick with odd numbers.  On a smaller wreath, work with three larger elements like we did here. If you are working on a larger wreath, use 5 flowers and so on to suit the size of your finished piece, this will make the finished piece more aesthetically pleasing.

First, mark out where your largest flowers will be.  Here we began with roses arranging them around the circle.

Step 3: Next, because we had enough space, we rotated our design and added three daisies before adding leaves with our round brush (again, adopting the rule of 3 to add leaves to each side of the roses).  Remember: You can work slightly inside and outside of your guide (as we have in the placement of the leaves) but always try to stay close to your original guide to prevent a wonky or uneven wreath!

When creating a wreath, you may be the type of person who likes to plan where you will add each element. To do this, you can draw out a pattern in a sketch book to trace and transfer it to your painting journal.  The important thing is that you find a process that suits you.

Step 4: Once you have added the larger flowers and details, take a look at your wreath to see where there are gaps and fill with smaller details like dot flowers, rosebuds, a sprig of lavender or berries....anything that takes your fancy.

Step 5: Once your wreath is complete, sit back and admire!

If you have created it as you paint and would like to keep the pattern, leave your design to dry before covering with transfer paper and drawing out a rough guide of where everything is.  As you can see, we have traced within the edges of the painting. This means that when you come to paint it, you will cover the lines you have transferred.  This is a great way to build up a collection of patterns and it means that you can try it again using different colours.

We'd love to see your finished wreaths - tag us in your social media posts and use #funwithfolkit

Happy Folking xx