Host Renai Ellison shows how to turn plain wooden boxes with lids into colorful, fun pieces of canister art for the kitchen
(figure A).
Materials:
unfinished wooden boxes, from craft-supply stores or homemade ones from plywood or scrap lumber (Sizes can graduate from about 6 inches tall to more than a foot high.)
lids for boxes (Either buy boxes with lids or make them out of plywood. Cedar makes a great box top because of its texture.)
sandpaper
small finishing nails
wood putty
putty knife
ruler
drill
predrilled wooden craft knob
wooden skewer
plastic foam
paintbrush (Foam paintbrushes works well.)
acrylic paint (in white and other colors of choice)
pencil
painter's tape in the width chosen for the canister stripes (Masking tape also works.)
screw for ball knob
umber glaze
clear acrylic sealer
Steps:
- Lightly sand boxes and lids to make sure they are smooth. Wipe clean.
- Use finish nails to tack a thin piece of plywood to the top (with a 1/2-inch border of the top revealed all around). This plywood serves as a "catch" for the lid and will help hold it on the canister (figure B).
- Putty the nail holes.
- Use a ruler to draw diagonal intersecting lines at the center of the top to locate the position for the knob. "Eyeball" it if you don't care about being ultra precise.
- Prime the box with white paint.
- Using ruler and pencil, create vertical stripes all around the boxes. Stripes can vary in width, depending on box size. One-inch stripes are about the right size. An even easier way to make the stripes is to use painter's tape or masking tape. To do this, cover the box with strips of parallel pieces of tape. Remove every other piece to reveal the striped areas to be painted with color (figure C).
- Alternate one color with white stripes on each box. For example, one box can have red-and-white stripes, one black and white, one green and white, etc. Let boxes dry well.
- Paint each lid either with white paint or with a solid color. Let dry well.
- Drill a hole in the middle of each lid for the finial.
- To paint knobs (available from craft or hardware store), stick each one into a block of plastic foam on a skewer and paint with a solid color paint (figure D). Let dry well.
- Drive a screw through the underside of the box, and screw the painted knob onto the exposed screw. Hand tighten.
- When all painted surfaces are dry, lightly sand edges with sandpaper.
- Brush over painted surfaces with umber glaze, wiping off excess as you go to leave a light glaze. Let dry well.
- Coat canisters with clear acrylic sealer to protect surface.
Tips
- Instead of stripes, embellish the outside of canisters with diamond or checkerboard patterns.
- Canisters can be used in the kitchen for flour, sugar or coffee, or they may be used in the bath for bath salts, cotton balls or soaps. A large canister is perfect for cookies.
- Some craft-supply stores have inexpensive cardboard canister boxes and lids. They can be used for this project as well, but skip the sanding step.
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