New Life to a Child’s Favorite Toy with Clay, Chalk & Mineral Paint

If you go up to your Grandma’s attic, you might just find an old rocking horse hiding up there.

How awesome would it be to grab that rocking horse from the attic, clean it up, and re-paint it with an all natural products?! TOTALLY AWESOME!!

So let’s find out how Debbie brought new life to a child’s favorite toy with Clay, Chalk & Mineral Paint.

New Life to a Child’s Favorite Toy with Clay, Chalk & Mineral Paint

In Debbie’s words:

This rocking horse is a piece of my childhood. It was a fixture at my parents farmhouse for as long as I can remember. It was given to us by family friends when they no longer had a use for it.  It’s approximately 60 years old! Many nieces, nephews, and grandchildren have played on this gentle friend. Starting to look tired and worn, I decided it needed to be refinished before giving it to my youngest grandchild for Easter.

Debbie is no stranger to the product line that American Paint Company offers.  In fact, she had some left over colors from previous projects!

PRODUCTS USED

• Rushmore – A creamy tan color
• Sackcloth – An elegant, darker tan color
• Cannonball – A rich midnight black color
• Top Coat – A durable sealer that goes on clear and leaves your piece with a professional shiny finish.

Getting Ready to Paint the 60 Year Old Rocking Horse

Before starting, Debbie made a template of the face with some tracing paper because she wanted to keep the same feel and look of the original piece.

The entire rocking horse was prepared with a mouse sander and some old fashioned hand sanding.

The finish was previously oil based paint, which was chipping, and not particularly smooth in places.

Once clean and ready, one coat of the color Rushmore was applied. After the paint had dried, the color Sackcloth was then applied. Finally, after both coats of paint were dry, one coat of Top Coat sealer from American Paint Company was applied.

Debbie made a decision to update the face of the horse, so she painted an actual mane with the face in the black color called Cannonball.  Then to ensure that the new paint job had a durable seal, she applied three more coats of Top Coat.

The original rocking horse did not have a tail, so she decided to make one from knitting yarn.

To quote Debbie:

All in all, I am very happy with the way this project turned out….and I can’t wait to give it to our grandson who is 21 months old at Easter. American Paint Company’s products are so easy to work with and I love that it dries so fast. It makes it very easy to complete a project in a weekend, or just a few days.

Have any project ideas lined up? Be sure and tell us what they are in the comments below.

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