A couple of weeks ago I was browsing through Chapters bookstore, which I do frequently. I had a coffee in hand and was admiring all of the beautiful housewares that I can't afford but that I continue to lust after. I had made it past all of the new released books, past the greeting cards and past the decadent rows of soy candles. I was turning the corner to inspect some tableware when something caught my eye and made me (almost) spit out a mouthful of coffee. It was a small box labelled "DIY Flower-Pot" and it said it contained everything you would need to paint your very own flower pot. On inspection it included a very small terracotta pot, some paint and a brush, all for the remarkably high price of $19.99.
I grew up painting flower pots, my mom sold them at craft fairs and both my sister and I had all of our pencils, markers and stationary on display in our own, hand-painted terracotta pots on our desks. I knew it was an inexpensive feat but didn't realise how ridiculous the price was for that DIY kit until my sister and I decided to get back to our "roots" and spend one of her first nights back in the city (she was away at university learning law and stuff) drinking wine and crafting some flower pots.
After securing some full-bodied red wine at the liquor store, our next stop was at the dollar store where we picked up sponge brushes (5 for $1), small terracotta pots (3 for $1.25), small saucers for said pots (3 for $1), a large bottle of white acrylic paint ($1) and a bag of sour candies ($1). Unfortunately the dollar store didn't have the array of paint colours we were hoping for so we bombed across the street to an actual craft store where we bought neon pink and robin's egg blue acrylic paint ($1.25/ bottle) and a sealer/glaze for the pots to make sure they were both water-proof and that the paint stayed where we put it ($3.00).
We came home, covered the dining table in newspaper and got down to business. We each painted three pots, each pot got three coats of paint (FYI if using a light colour or a neon colour, paint a coat of white under where you intend to use it, this will make it more dramatic and will allow it to cover better). The sponge brushes worked surprisingly well and it took about an hour including a little drinking and devouring of sour candies to complete all three coats (they dried remarkably fast!). I let them cure for a couple of hours before I finished both the inside and the outside of each pot with one coat of the sealing glaze. The next day they were ready to be put to good use.
Shall we do a tally?
$1.25 for three pots
$1.25 for three pots
$1.00 for three saucers
$1.00 for three saucers
$3.50 for paint
$1.00 for brushes
+ $3.00 for glaze
$12.00+tax (~$13.80)
So without including the wine and candies, it cost $13.80 to paint six pots...that is $2.30/pot which makes the DIY kit a real rip-off. Happy pot painting all, enjoy getting your hands a little dirty!
-m
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