Vintage French Market Baskets

I love vintage French market baskets.

Especially the tall ones.

Don't know what it is about them,

but the older and grayer and more weathered they are,

the more they appeal to me.

(Kind of like a distinguished older gent...you know?)

But they're hard to find.

(The baskets...not the gents.)

So when I read about  Rosemary's discovery of French-inspired rolling market baskets

last summer at JoAnne Fabrics, I ordered two of them.

One to keep

 and

one to sell.

(Yes, they've been sitting in my basement for that long...)

I used ASCP in French Linen as the base color,

dipping my brush in the paint and then in a bowl of water,

and haphazardly brushing the color on.

 After letting it dry,

I went back with ASCP in Old White

and did a very wet brushing over the entire basket

allowing the watery paint to catch in the nooks and crannies.

 I was pleased with the results.

But...

 I wasn't finished with it yet.

 

This gent needed something more.

Something to make him stand out from other baskets his age.

So, I hauled out a French address stencil, a piece of leftover drop cloth, 

and ASCP in Graphite.

A few dabs of silicone glue later

and he was ready for a trip to the market.

As I was downloading the photos,

I started playing around with the "Gritty" effect

and loved the vintage look it added.

Since I had the paints and stencils out,

I transformed this shapely old basket I discovered at Goodwill last week

with the same technique.

They make a nice pair, oui?

She just may have to live at Heaven's Walk for a little while...

while the gent is off to my booth!

Vintage basket on left: Allegan Antique Market

~ Blessings ~

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