Mushrooms, Mushrooms Everywhere

...and some unicorns!

 No matter how many I paint there never seems to be enough mushrooms. They are so pretty and sweet but take a lot of time. Because all of my items are so tiny I need to paint in sections so not to overlap or smudge the step before.

To get to this stage it has taken painting white one the top (dry 30 min.), middle (dry 30 min.), bottom (dry 30 min.), and then repeat it all over. The white paint needs 2 layers  so that you do not see the brush strokes. Then the red paint needs 2 layers (with 30 min. dry time for each layer). I then stamp the bottom ( this needs 24 hours to dry or it will smear when putting the glaze on).

Next step is all the little dots, hundreds of dots!!! I end up seeing dots everywhere. I have a certain number for each size mushroom and all the counting gets very intense! This stage is kept for late night painting when the children are asleep so they don't make me lost count a hundred times.

As you can see I get pretty covered in paint. My husband says that I could not make a profit if I had to add in the cost of all the clothing I have to replace. I now have painting clothing and clothing to go out in public in.

Last stage is 2 layers of satin finish glaze in the 3 stages: top, middle, bottom ...and then repeat.

There is a lot of "wait" time in my work. During that time I am homeschooling the kids, keeping house, cooking, baking, listing or relisting on Etsy, breaking up fights, finding my daughters shoes ( she is obsessed with shoes), marketing my shop, blogging, doing marketing or planning for my NaturalKids Team, and on and on.....

And when they are all done they look like these lovely wooden toy mushooms!