Hey guys! I have some super cute firecrackers for you to make. Fourth of July is coming up soon, and so many of us decorate for seasons and holidays, I thought, what can I make that is easy and festive? I came up with these darlings. If you like vintage, folk art, Americana, etc.. you’ll get a kick out of these cute firecrackers.
Relatively inexpensive to make, I bought a 3 foot piece of 2×2 wood. I believe these pieces are cut to be the pieces for the inside of railings. Whatever those things are called. It was a little more expensive to me, because they didn’t have them in pine, this piece was poplar and cost around $12. That makes the cost of each of mine about $3 each. Of course, you could make them smaller and get 4 or even five pieces. But I am happy with my three.
I had my husband cut the pieces at 14 inches, 12 inches and 10 inches.
I first painted in my toned down colors, barn red, cream and denim made a great combo. After the wood was dry, I used a sander to sand them. You can certainly hand sand, as I started out, but to save my hands and arms I used the electric one. I really took off the edges and corners.
Once done, I made a mixture of about 1/3 paint and 2/3 water using a dark brown acrylic paint. Mix it up well and paint it onto the wood pieces. Before drying wipe with a paper towel. This antiques the pieces, as the paint settles into the sanded parts the best, and it helps to age the paint. Once you have aged them to your liking, take the same mixture and flick the brush ( use your finger or a stick) and flick droplets of paint all over the pieces.
Let those dry and let’s get started on the decorations. I kept it simple, with a few Basswood stars. I found the Basswood at the craft store in with the woodworking tools. I cut out a paper star, traced it, then used an exacto knife to cut the stars out of the wood.
Once done that, paint the stars whatever colors you like, I did mine in each color. Use the splatter technique again and allow them to dry. When time came to glue them to my pieces, I used a simple tacky glue to keep them in place.
I also used a garden twine- it was very inexpensive for a large roll. And wrapped some around the wood, just for decorative detail.
Before I finished my pieces, I had my husband drill me a couple holes that was the size of the cord I used for the wick. I used some very old cord that was given to us by a neighbor several years ago. He’d had it a long time as well. So it has this beautiful predone patina to it. My suggestion if you are going to use cording, would be roll it around in the dirt a bit before you add it to your project. I used a silicone adhesive to glue the cords in place, it’s just one of my favorite sticky glues.
You’ve gotta try these, they are easy and fun to create!
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