Making My Own Door Hanger For $2.50

I have always liked door hangers. While most people don't bother, those that do often have interesting personalities. I hated my boring brown door and after buying a lion's head brass knocker in Hong Kong have tried to "go with the seasons!" You know, some kind of Christmas item, say a wreath, a Valentine's heart, spring flowers and so on.

This year nothing, including prices, attracted me. Sorry Michael's.

Painting thrills for $1.25

For the past few months I've been drawn to cubist art and have decorated birdhouses, gourds, trays and even a real canvas in this newfound fascination.

Going to Dollar Tree recently looking for disposable bowls for pot luck pool parties, I spotted a blank 12" x 12" thin wood blank plaque with a jute hanger. Stopping, I picked it up and thought, "Here it is! My hanger and for just $1.25." Below there were smaller blanks with one shaped like an arrow. For $2.50, and a lot of work ahead, I had my hanger.

Because it was wood, for once I put a sealer on the side to be decorated. I'm not sure it made things any better as transparent paints struggled to give a smooth, streakless base surface.  Many colors still needed several coats. In the worst cases I painted a cream undercoat and then the transparent paint on top.

The first step is the design, or layout in the trade. I did it in pencil and keep an eraser handy to remove mistakes in design or just before a transparent paint seals it in forever.

Here you can see the outline and beginning of painting in the base colors. I try to paint all of a color where it is to be used before moving to another (I wish). As more colors are added you find yourself reaching for a color you've already used or giving a color a second coat.

Here you see more colors added. The bright green has had two coats already and the gold around the central face has as well

To me putting the background colors is both tedious and frightening. People ask, "What do you think about when you're painting?" It's not about Trump or the Iran War that's for sure! It's more like: that's a crappy stroke, OMG why did I pick that color, are you sure you want to do that?, crap, I got paint on my pants, or sometimes grubbing about on the floor for something that fell. It's ALL about the painting. It may not be tension free but it's in another reality completely and that's good.

Here I need to work on the eyes.

Finally all the background colors are in and the fun begins. As you can see most of the hard black lines are in. For this I am now using a Uni POSCA black paint pen that gives a reliable black line I just couldn't get with a Black Sharpie Fine Point pen.

POSCA pens offer a variety of tip sizes and mostly opaque colors wonderful for getting into tight spaces. I have tried many pens and these have performed that best on wooden surfaces.

More work has been done to the outline making it clearly defined now. Small details have been added alá Zentangle items with a .08 fine tip Pentil pen. Flowers in the middle purple and in the central face. A checkerboard pattern is in the upper right. 

It's amazing how these small details add so much character to a piece. Filling blank spaces with unexpected details can delight the viewer. I have no problem mixing styles if it adds to the item I've created. Why not? Especially if it enhances your work.

I've found that adding pieces of say small wood blocks, or jewels, half round balls, wooden hearts and such give another dimension to the piece.

You can see the small heart in the central face and green half circle buttons on the red fence. Jewels were added to the crown.

Even puffy paint is used to give dimension. Anything to break the plain, flat surface. When done it's very interesting to see in person.

The final step is roughing up the black lines. To do this I use black oil pastels drawn over all black lines then use a pointed paper scrubber to soften every line. From a cold sterile line I get a softened line that adds so much more dimension.

Next came the welcome arrow. If you're going to have a door hanger why not welcome visitors? Dollar Tree had the perfect add-on - an arrow to match the plaque! So I bought it for another $1.25 and decorated it to match the plaque.

The same steps are followed, pencil outline, base colors, hard black lines, details and scrubbing the lines with oil pastels.

Here is the finished arrow already to attach.  

The last step was getting the arrow attached to the plaque. I have pretty much lost the use of my right hand so I really wasn't sure on how to do it. My Chinese partner suggested I drill two matching holes at the bottom, cut the arrows jute, thread the jute like the top and re-knot the jute on the back. That's exactly what I did . I threaded the jute through the holes and tied it again on the back. You'd be amazed what you can do with one hand and scotch tape. Here is the finished project!

Here is my welcome hanger on my front door!

Thank you for reading my blog! Please be sure to visit on a regular basis or contact me at KrugsStudio@gmail.com. New blogs are added all the time. In conjunction  with my store I feel that “design” is an important part of our lives. Everything we use or live by was designed by someone. Please tell your friends, artists or anyone who appreciates design about my blog.

Please be sure to visit my store, KrugsStudio.etsy.com on a regular basis. New birdhouses, craft items, photography and canvas paintings are added all the time. Please tell your friends, artists or anyone who appreciates local handcrafted items about my store.

OWN or GIFT an original work of art this year!