Stand out

• 18x18mm knot-free pine – 4 x 20cm long, 8 x 12cm long
• Mitre box and saw
• Wood glue
• Drill and 1.5mm drill bit
• Hammer
• 30mm pin nails
• Resene Colorwood Natural Wood Stain in Resene Ironbark and Resene Touch Wood
• Resene testpot brushes
• Resene Aquaclear
• Terracotta plant pots
• Resene Aquapel & Terracotta Sealer
• Resene testpots: Resene Kandinsky , Resene Xanadu, Resene Half Forest Green, Resene Wax Flower, Resene New York Pink, Resene Ironbark

Step by step instructions

Step one:  To adjust the size of your plant stand, simply decide how high you would like it be (these will be the longer pieces of pine), then measure the width of your pot a third of the way down to get the measurement for the 8 short pieces. For accuracy, cut using a saw and mitre box (A).

Step two:  Glue the joins (B) and make the sides of your plant stand with two long lengths and two short lengths. Drill a small hole at each join (C), then hammer in pin nails to secure (D).

Step three:  Repeat again to make the another side – you will have 4 short pieces of timber left (E).

Step four:  Glue and place the four shorter remaining pieces at each corner of one of the plant stand sides made in the previous steps (F). Glue the other pre-made side on top (G) and let glue set before drilling and nailing all joins in place to secure (H).

Step five:  Use long even strokes to paint the entire plant stand with Resene Colorwood Natural Wood Stain (I). Make sure all sides are coated, including the inner edges. Set aside to dry. For a darker effect, stain with a second coat. Apply Resene Aquaclear clear finish to protect the stained timber.

Step six:  To create an abstract painted pot, first seal the entire pot, inside and out, with Resene Aquapel & Terracotta Sealer. Once dry, paint the entire pot, including the inside, in a light base colour. We used Resene Wax Flower for one and Resene Kandinsky for the other (J).

Step seven:  Once dry, use Resene Half Forest Green to paint some larger circular shapes, starting at either the base or the top edge of your pot. Once dry, do the same with the lighter green, Resene Xanadu, making sure you leave areas of your base colour showing – it’s nice to have areas of the two green shades overlapping, too (K).

Step eight:  Finally, using a smaller brush, make some dots and arc shapes with Resene New York Pink (L). These should overlap the greens to give lots of dimension. Don’t be afraid to experiment with shapes and colours – you can always paint over the top with your base colour and start again!

Resene colour tip

When staining, test first with one or two coats on a small off-cut to see what depth of colour you like the most.

Craft editor and stylist Marsha Smith. April 2021.

▸ Download a PDF of this article

Craft with Resene from Woman magazine
View more craft ideas from Woman magazine in the Weekend craft projects section.

Craft with Resene | All craft projects