My most popular wheel is the "unfinished" or natural wood Kromski Fantasia, which not only is the most affordable way to purchase this wheel- it also allows you total create freedom to decorate it , or finish the wood in any way you like.
To start with, I'm going to show you some gorgeous pictures of customised Fantasia's i've gathered from around the net.
@Hogwarts_honor_Student on instagram blew my mind with her hand painted wheel, complete with super realistic portraits of the Doctor and side kick. I mean- WOAH. Surely this is a Tardis worthy piece of equipment! I love the blended purples and inky blues of the stormy sky.
@FiberCulture on instagram painted her fantasia with an all over black walnut stain, and added hand painted golden vines and leaves around the wheel. The effect is gorgeous and makes her wheel looks very elegant.
3) The Sacred Symbols Wheel
@ThatFiberFemme on instagram asked for the help of her children to decorate her wheel, making it extra special. Together they came up with colours, paints and designs and set about adding happy swirls on a baby blue background- leaving the central bar in it's natural wooden colour.
4)The "Pillar Box Bright" Wheel
@CreepingThyme on instagram painted her Fantasia in a gorgeous, cheerful deep red, which compliments her bright home interior, and fiber choices perfectly! If your home decorating scheme is important, why not paint your wheel to match the room you are most likely to spin (and your wheel) in?
6) The Starry, Starry Night Wheel
@Brijitelouise on Instagram painted her wheel like a beautiful night's sky. The woodwork is covered in a metallic silver paint, giving it a futuristic look, and her wheel has been hand painted to capture the mystic beauty of the stars. Pretty!
If you have painted your wheel, left it natural, or ordered a custom colour from my website, you might want to think about finishing all the other wooden parts of your wheel. This ensures that stains are minimised from any oil you might be putting on your wheel, or from foot prints (although, i've heard that a wheel with foot prints shows the "soul(e)" of the spinner!)
Why not give your wheel a birthday - or a "buy-day" and treat her once a year to a full service and clean. Rub on some finish onto all the wood parts, clean all the fluff from the moving parts, oil all the squeaky bits and add new leaders to your bobbins. You could make this a social event with other spinner friends in the areas and invite everyone over for lots of wheely good fun.
 |
| @KathsCrafts on instagram ordered a pink Fantasia- looking good Kath! |
I've finished my wheel with a light coating of a natural oil/wax product, called "Howards feed n wax.", which is made from orange blossom oil. It makes the wood ever so slightly darker, however it leaves it impenetrable to stain and makes it smell lovely! I've also had great success with Antiquax Original Wax Polish, which is slightly more difficult to apply, as you have to use several coats- however it brings out the natural shine of the wood.
If you want to keep your wood looking as white or natural as possible, you could use a white tinted wax, such as Osmo Polyx.
 |
| Tiny Glittery Sparkles Wood Finish |
Recently, on my "Spin City Chatter" Facebook group,
(come join us! https://www.facebook.com/groups/551732751682273/) , a lovely member and friend of mine, Bev Baldry, has been sharing with us her wheel finishing journey- with SPARKLES. Yes, SPARKLES.
She added some mica powder to her Ronseal satin wood finish ,which leaves a gorgeous, pale, shimmery effect all over the wood. I certainly want to give this a try myself! Mica is actually a shimmery type of rock, which was made at extreme pressures thousands of years ago to form a natural, silvery shine.
According to Bev she added" About 75% dilution so 250ml varnish with 20ml (measured with a medicine spoon) mica powder" To her mixture, which is more than enough to varnish the entire wheel, and bobbins.
I hope this has inspired you to decorate your wheels, or think about some options for finishing the wood on your spinning wheel.
Happy spinning!
Louise
Thanks so much for this post! After reading the PDF instruction manual for putting together the unfinished Fantasia I felt a little freaked out about trying to finish and paint it... now feeling a lot more confident knowing that I can use a wax finish on the wood parts and just focus on priming and painting the MDF wheel. The orange blossom wax sounds gorgeous!
ReplyDeleteThank you for this post. It inspired me. My new wheel is called Moira, and my friend has painted her for me with a stunning celtic design. If you want a photo to add to this collection, let me know!
ReplyDeleteKathy