Walking On Air

I'm not completely done with it yet, but it's gotten to the point that I'm ready to share my painted aisle runner. Remember the cloudy aisle runner that I fell in love with?

photo by Katherine Elizabeth Photography

Once I saw it, I knew I needed it. I was totally sure I could do it, too. I thought it would be so appropriate to walk over clouds towards Josh on our wedding day. I went to Joann Fabrics to gather my supplies a couple of days after I found this picture and scored a thin Wilton aisle runner (it was cheaper than buying fabric) with one of their 50% off coupons. I also bought a bunch of Martha paints in various shades of blue. Once I got home, I taped a plastic bag down to the floor and got started.

Of course that wine was necessary for the creative process.

I tried a couple of things at first that ended up NOT working. What did work was painting the runner white first in order to avoid having to paint multiple thick layers of blue to cover up the daisy print. I just painted the area white first, waited until it dried, and then went over it with a mixture of blues, grays and soft turquoise, leaving the cloudy areas white. I just kind of figured out where I wanted the clouds to be and painted the area around it. It saved me from having to trace a bunch of clouds out first.
This is what I have so far:

iPhone really hates taking good pictures of my stuff. 

It has taken a while because I can only work on about two feet of it at a time. I have to paint the white base coat, wait for it to dry and then start in with the blue. Once the blue area is dry, I touch up the white on the clouds and paint in some shadows with gray and cream paint. All of it has to dry before I move on to the next portion or I'll risk getting paint all over the floor. It's been time consuming, but seeing it closer to finished is really motivating me to keep going.

When I first started the project, I tried to paint the blue first and then go over it with white paint. I was also mixing the paints with fabric medium. If you want to try this project, I say don't do either of those things. Use acrylic craft paints mixed with a little bit of water to help extend the paint, and do a base layer of white first. Make sure to start a LONG time before the wedding if you're going to try to paint anything more than fifty yards. I've still got about thirty yards before I call this project officially OFFICIALLY finished.

Is anyone else doing something special with their aisle runner?