If you know me; you know I love pirates and skulls. I’ve always had a thing for the piratey style; big chains, anchors, sailing ships, rope… but the symbol that burns deepest is the dear old Jolly Roger. I even liked the pirate theme before Pirates of the Caribbean came out! (I feel this is when pirates became pop culture.)

So where did we leave off? There was one last plank (argh!) on the barn wood leftover from the nesting benches. I turned my back, and before I knew it, Sam had built me a Treasure Box! (the last plank is the top and bottom panels in the box)

So, now we were left with raw wood, and we felt like doing something special with this one. But what? Stain? Wax? Oil?

Earlier that week, Sam’s mom mentioned that she had made her own wax that may work with some of our projects. She took old candles from a local thrift store, melted them down on her stove, and cut the wax with mineral oil.

I was a little skeptical about what to use, so we took bees wax, Joyce’s wax, and tung oil to see what look we liked best. Here is what happened:

They all came out basically the same! So, we ended up using the homemade wax on the entire box.

What I love most about this piece, is that the top absolutely looks like it has a scar on it, which really reminds me of a raggedy old pirate.

My plan is to keep my perfumes in this new treasure box of mine ❤️

One thing we learned with this homemade wax, is that we needed to use a heat gun to melt some of the wax that hardened in some of the deep crevices.

What are some homemade finishes that you have used?

With love, Erika Nora

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