Revamped Wooden Cat Bookends

I was given this pair of cat bookends by a friend who didn’t want them anymore and offered them to me, and if I didn’t want them, they were going to a charity shop.

Honestly I don’t like them, but I do like cats, and I do need bookends so I took them as I also felt bad that they would end up in a charity shop or worse, be thrown away.  So I used them on the bookcase for a while but then I ran out of space as the number of books increased and I didn’t need to hold them up with bookends.  So then this pair sat around on the floor for a while, and I wondered if the time had come for me to donate them to a charity shop!  But look at those sad little faces, I needed to do something to save them!

There is really nothing wrong with them in principle.  They just look a little dated and a bit tired – that cat on the left looks quite depressed – but I decided to try and make them look better.  So I painted them completely in black gesso.

Gotta admit even that makes them look 100% better!  Now I need to decide what colours to paint them and I would like to do something to the cat on the left to make him look happier.

OK so I do feel ever so slightly like I have just done some extreme makeover surgery on this poor kitty by literally carving a smile onto his face, but I think he looks much happier now…

And here they are, repainted and looking quite spiffy!  Oh hey did you notice?  Kitty on the left is now smiling!  I turned his frown upside down, and gave him a smile.  And as you can see they both had a complete metallic makeover!

SUPPLIES USED FYI:

Pebeo Black Gesso
Finnabair Metallique Paints – Raven Black, Amethyst, Dragonfly, Stormy Ocean, Unicorn Hair
Impasto Paint – Linen
Liquid Acrylics – Ink Black