Simple Ikea Ribba Hack for Lace Souvenir

Not so long ago, the Daddy and I sans little ones went on a short trip to Europe. One of the stop was a day-trip to Bruges aka Brugge, Belgium. In all my recent travels, I would try to bring home an affordable artwork made by a local artist. However, when we were in Brugge, I can't find any artist selling their wares by the street. Well there was one...but I was not loving his pieces. But guess what Brugge is famous for? Yes yes...Waffles...and also LACE! 

In an effort not to make my home into rumah makcik-makcik (old lady home) (my mom will kill me here....), I just wanted a modern looking lace that would represent Brugge on our future travel painting wall. And....I found EXACTLY what I wanted. 

Back home...it took me months to do it but finally I went to IKEA (of course) for a frame. Came home with more than one frame (of course) and took a couple more weeks before actually doing anything to the frame or lace (of course). Which meant a trip to the hardware store to look for ONE colour but ended up contributing around 6 more cans to my spray paint library even more. Whyyyy am I so weak?! Gah gah gah. 

Most DIY freaks like me would spray paint the actual frame and use fabric / coloured paper / felt for the background. I like to make life difficult (of course), so I chose to SPRAY PAINT THE INSIDE of the frame instead. 

In hindsight...it also gave me a chance to try out yellow spray paints. Why yellow? I felt like it represented Brugge to me....and I never spray painted anything yellow before. Yes, I am giving excuses for my spray painting addiction. 

Let's begin....

SIMPLE IKEA RIBBA HACK FOR LACE SOUVENIR

via Ikea.com.my 

Tools

1. Chosen frame - IKEA RIBBA RM 29.90

2. Item to mount in frame - Handmade Brugge lace Euro 10-15 ....i think

Yes, I needed THREE spray paints for ONE teeny tiny frame.

This is why I cannot be in a hardware store.

3. Spray paints - my favourite pocket friendly Nippon Pylox Lazer Spray Paint, RM 5 and Cap Matahari Spray Paint, RM 6...really. You really don't have to go all Rustoleum on this. 

4. Craft glue - already available

5. Safety tools - ya know, disposable gloves so you won't be spending hours scrubbing your unnaturally coloured fingers and hands and a good breathing mask to minimise hallucinations post-spraying frenzy

To start...take whatever you want to destroy  paint and place it on your designated painting area which should be clean (hahaha), no dust (hahahahahaha), good air circulation, not indoor and no wind.  

 See my lazy DIY method. I didn't even separate the pieces of the inside frame....which was the wrong thing to do. But gawddangit, I just wanted to spray somethingggggg, now now now!

I then did a quick colour test with the spray paint on the frame hardpaper. The frame of the frame? I don't know what to call it. As you can see, Nippon Pylox's Deep Yellow and Cap Matahari's Yellow is very similar. I should have trusted the cap colours as they were both similar! And the lighter yellow of Cap Matahari's Yellow....well it was yellow. Banana yellow. Let's call the other yellow Mango yellow. I'm feeling fruity yellow.

Paint-off!

Once colour test was done, I resumed to stack all three pieces of the inside frame together. Brain was still not working. ....

I proceeded to spray paint the top half of the frame with Banana Yellow and the bottom half of the frame with Mango Yellow. 

Once I did the first layer (Behold! my heavy handedness with spray painting!), I realise....ehh ehhh the middle layer is getting soaked! It is called paper, Mummylicious. Spray painting = wetness = why instructions mention drying time = requirement to be wet in order to dry = super thin paper...can't handle the awesomeness of spray paint. 

Super wet paper after two coats of spray paints.

The colour gradient is more obvious in real life, I promise! 

So after around 30 minutes of frying time, I got rid of the middle layer, and did another quick coat on the frame of the frame and the back of the Ribba frame. which by the way, I need to mention is made out of porous material. *slap head on table

But I patiently waited for it to dry before destroying this project even more. By patiently, I mean really patiently 24 hours-left it overnight-I-can't-think-now leave it.

Plus, it helps to get rid of any extra fumes and that freshly painted smell.

And it turned out as I wanted it. Multiple gradient of yellowness and painting directly on the backing of the frame gives it a grainy texture.

Then I put it the two pieces backward onto the Ribba frame, just so I know the lines lines up, align the lace where I want it to be, and grab my glue.

I just dab a drop around the edges, and since this Ribba frame is a picture box frame, I needed to make sure all the pointy bits of the lace won't drop to the pressure of gravity. So dap dap, the glue goes to pointy tops. This took less than a couple of minutes.

Once dried, I just flip the frame of the frame, backing and glued on lace bit around. Secure it and....tadaaah. easy peasy new travel souvenir aka art piece on display. You may now be with Kiki the wooden handcrafted doll from Kyoto, Japan and sauce cups in a cup from Morocco.

.....Now what else can I spray paint?