My mistakes don’t usually turn into breakthroughs but this time I was lucky! I’m absolutely loving the transformation to a thrift store well-in-tree silver plated tray I bought for $2.
I was dying to turn a can of black spray paint loose on the tray so much so that I ignored a piece of advice that I already knew: do not spray paint in temps below 55-60 degrees. On this particular December New England day, the temps soared to 48 degrees which felt positively balmy in my garage so I figured I could give it a go. Ummm, no.
I sprayed a light coat on the tray and it looked great. I then left the garage to work on another project. When I returned a few hours later to spray a second coat, I discovered that about half of the paint on the tray had bubbled (likely because the paint froze before it even hit the tray). I was so mad (mostly at myself!) that I abandoned the project and promptly forgot about it.
This week I found the discarded tray (in the mess of my garage. So many projects!) and decided to sand the bubbled part off so that I could re-spray it. But much to my dismay, I loved the look of it as I removed some of the bubbles all while revealing peaks of the silver plate below.
This is how it turned out:
Not only am I keeping it as is but I am running back to the thrift store for more! These beauties are a regular item in thrift stores. Why? I think because people don’t know what to do with them as soon as the silver plate begins to disappear and age. While this can no longer be used for food (that’s a no no with painted items), I think it makes a rather unique addition to my mantel … and my mortar and pestle collection.
