Bow Tie Box

Create a lovely home for your bow tie collection!

Posted by M.e.

About

This tutorial features two-toned wood staining techniques for creating an elegant storage container for your fashion accessories.

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You Will Need (11 things)

  • 1 Unfinished Wooden Box
  • Cardboard (a piece a little larger than the bottom of your box)
  • Fabric (a piece a little larger than your cardboard)
  • Wood Stain (two different tones)
  • Polyurethane Spray Lacquer
  • Gold Paint Pen
  • Masking Tape
  • Hot Glue
  • Paintbrush
  • Scissors
  • Paper Towels

Steps (6 steps, 300 minutes)

  1. 1

    Tape off the top according to your design. I'm using simple stripes, but any angular shape can be made this way (i.e. triangles, rectangles, lettering, a nice chevron pattern, etc. etc.). The taped areas will be the lighter wood stain & the areas without tape will be darker.

    Next, measure the inside of your box. That way you can plan ahead & make the insert while your box is drying.

  2. 2

    Time to stain! Take your box outside & cover evenly with the darker wood stain. The longer you leave your wood stain on, the darker it will get. Don't forget the inside! Also, don't worry about getting stain on the hinges, that stuff wipes right off. The wood from my box was particularly "thirsty" so I ended up using a few coats of stain.

    Make sure to wash your paint brush once you're done staining. Dish soap will work just fine for this.

    Once your box is the preferred darkness, wipe off excess stain with a paper towel.

  3. 3

    When your box is good & dry, peel off the tape. Then apply an even layer of the lighter wood stain on the unfinished areas. Since the majority of the box is darker & you'll be using a lighter stain at this point, you don't have to worry about staying inside the lines!

    After the entirety of your box is dry, apply gold details with your gold leaf pen.

    When the gold leaf is dry, spray an even layer of polyurethane over the entire box, inside & out.

  4. 4

    Here's how you make your insert: Cut your cardboard as shown to the right. You'll want the inner rectangle to be the size of the inside of your box with inch long tabs hanging off the side.

  5. 5

    Fold & tape your tabs together. Don't worry about making this part look pretty, we're covering it with fabric!

  6. 6

    Wrap the cardboard with fabric like a present. Glue the fabric in place underneath with hot glue. Place the insert in your box.