DIY: Painted Wooden Utensils

painted wooden utensils

One of the many things I’ve been doing lately is this new birthday club I started with 11 other ladies where each person gets a month and will be inundated with birthday packages from the other 11.  I had the first month and got loads of lovely crafty goodness and cuteness.  So now I get a chance to make gifts and shop for the other ladies.  This is one of the things that this particular birthday girl wanted…some hand painted wooden utensils.  So I thought to myself, “self.  You can do that!” And off I went.

Supplies:

  • wooden utensils – found everywhere!
  • acrylic paints from craft section of store
  • small bottle of varnish – found in the same section as the little bottles of acrylic paint
  • foam paint brush
  • washi tape

painted wooden utensils

I started with my washi tape and carefully taped off the end where I wanted the paint to end (no paint on the part of the utensil touching food).  Then I taped off the tip of the handle creating an even starting point as well.  I taped a few sections off in the middle of the handles, making each one unique.

painted wooden utensils

Then I took a smaller width washi tape and added in some more tape options.  One thing to note: anywhere you place the tape will be the natural wood color in the finished product. And be sure to place the washi tape firmly so that paint does not slip underneath destroying your pretty pattern.

painted wooden utensils

And then color!!  It was time to play with the different colors I had chosen (I went with a bit of a retro color scheme that made me happy).  I chose to paint each handle to be unique, so I got to play with color arrangement on each. Definitely the most fun part of the project for me!

painted wooden utensils

I didn’t choose the most expensive (ahem…quality) acrylic paints, so my utensils took many coats of color to get the saturation I needed.  The blue went on well but the other three colors were pretty thin.  I probably should have invested more in the paint. 😉 Ah well.  It just took more time.  I used low glasses to hold each utensil while it dried between coats.

After the color,I removed all of the washi tape except the bottom one near the spoon end.  I added at least four separate coats of varnish to make the paint last and protect any food from paint.  It was great watching the handle get glossier and glossier.  It was like painting my nails (which I haven’t done in a long time! lol) It was my top coat.< painted wooden utensils

And then finally! The big reveal.  I carefully pulled away the last piece of washi tape on each utensil and saw my clean fresh lines (and perhaps some not so clean ones…but that’s the beauty of handmade right?).  I gave the utensils a few more days to dry thoroughly before shipping to be sure the paint had set completely.

painted wooden utensils

I think that this is a great activity for friends who are looking for a craft project together.  You just need to take into account the drying time.  With high quality paints and perhaps a hair dryer you can probably speed up the process.  Otherwise, you can do what I did, and let them hang out in your kitchen for a weekend while you randomly chose moments to add an extra coat of this or that.  It kind of depends on how tolerant your family is of random craft projects around the house. 🙂

8 thoughts on “DIY: Painted Wooden Utensils”

  1. These are so pretty. I've read that when you paint stripes on a wall that you should paint a clear coat on the tape seam first and that will give you crisp lines when you remove the tape. I don't know if that works.

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