Crafter Bunny DeLorie of Fe Fi Faux Finish turns plain wooden dowels into faux bamboo sticks that look just like the real thing. Materials:
Wood dowels
Fanci-Kwik® black design compound
Pale-yellow acrylic paint
Artist brushes: 1/2" flat and #00 liner
200-grit sandpaper
Large nail
Tung-oil stain
1/2" foam brushes
Thinner
Cotton cloths
Plastic containers
Paper towels
- Bamboo grows in all sizes, so feel free to use any diameter of wood dowels.
- Begin with a length of dowel. Create a joint (similar to a knee joint) on the dowel by building up a rounded area with Fanci-Kwik (figure A).
- Sculpt with your fingers.
- Dip your finger in water, and smooth the joint's top and bottom edges (figure B).
- Make several joints on each piece, depending on the length of the dowel.
- Prop one end of the dowel on the block of wood or a can, and let it set for several hours.
- When a joint is pliable but no longer wet, use a nail to make a groove about 1/8" wide around the middle of the joint (figure C).
- Allow Fanci-Kwik to dry completely, 12 to 24 hours.
- Paint the dowels with a coat of pale-yellow paint, using a 1/2" flat brush (figure D).
- Once the paint is dry, lightly sand it with 200-grit sandpaper.
- Use a foam brush to apply tung-oil stain in English walnut to the dowels (figure E).
- Wipe an even coat in the direction of the wood grain, using cotton cloth. Let the oil dry (figure F).
- Now apply a coat of early American walnut in the same manner. Let the oil dry.
- Use the liner brush, dipped in Black Olive, to paint grooves in the joints. Let the paint dry (figure G).
- Clean all the brushes with paint thinner.
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