But since the paint is on the expensive side, I was a little hesitant to jump right in with no experience. Luckily, there are chalk paint workshops offered all over the country (found here), and so I attended one on Tuesday night at a charming antique and thrift shop, Two Old Birds. I was so excited to get to try out the paint without a commitment, and learn some tips and techniques along the way!
The class was limited to eight people, and lasted a little over three hours. We used wooden baseboards to paint our samples on, which gave a nice flat surface, as well as some curved detail to work with the different effects.
We started with just a basic layer of paint on half of one of the boards, as the foundation for a two color distressed finish. Nothing special here, just regular old painting, but I really did like the oval Annie Sloan brushes we got to work with.
Next, we painted the other side, where we were trying out a smooth, more modern finish. For the smooth finish, you first dip your brush in water and shake it off, before putting it in the paint, to thin things out a little. We also learned that using synthetic brushes instead of natural bristle brushes tend to leave fewer brush strokes.
