Taking A Vintage Suitcase from Drab to Fab! - By Bev McNaughton

This vintage suitcase was in pretty good nick, and reminded me of when people use to pack a suitcase to go on a weekend away or overnight stay, The sense of adventure and glamour that came with it, when travel was still such an exotic luxury!.

In preparation for it’s makeover, this old gal got a good scrub down with Dixie Belle white lightning cleaner and a good rinse afterwards.

Because the surface was quite shiny, like any model she had to have a good foundation applied to ensure the makeup, I mean paint, would stick.  I used Dixie Belle Slick Stick which is great for making paint stick to slick or smooth surfaces without having to sand.

 

She then had 2 coats of Silk Mineral Paint from the new Desert Collection, in the colour Prickly Pear.  I chose this paint in particular as it has a built in stain blocker and top coat, so if there were any naughty blemishes or stains hidden underneath, they would not seep through.  You have to remember that most of these old suitcases were made from a hard cardboard type substance, which makes them more susceptible to absorbing moisture and stains.

Now with her glamorous new colour applied, I left her overnight to thoroughly dry before applying the transfers from the Aussie Decor Chic Glam dry rub transfer collection.

Normally when applying the transfers, I would seal chalk type paints beforehand.  As this is a mineral paint I didn’t do this.  However…. when I applied the transfers to the first side, I found that because the surface was textured, I did have to work harder to get the transfers to stick.  Soooo, on the rest of the suitcase I applied a coat of Dixie Belle satin top coat, left it several hours to dry, and viola!, the transfers released like a dream.  The whole piece was then given two coats of satin top coat to seal it well.

On the sides, I used a stencil pattern and a small piece of foam, with hardly any white paint on, to pounce through the stencil to give a random, uneven faded appearance, I applied some satin top coat over these areas again so the finish was consistent.  I then re-laid the stencil and went over this sparingly with a little gold gilding wax.

 

I used the same gold gilding wax and stencil on the front to add a little dimension.  The edging is all done with gold gilding wax, just applied with a piece of old sponge.  The handle was painted with Slick Stick, then Dixie Belle Colonel Mustard paint colour underneath (to give it depth) and a couple of coats of Dixie Belle Moonshine Metallics in Gold Digger. Another coat of satin top coat was applied. 

  

The locks and clips have bronze and gold gilding wax pounced on with a sponge to give a bit of a textured feel.

This old gal has now had a facelift and is ready to dazzle again!

You can see this beautiful piece and all the products that were used at Rescue Recycle Reuse.