Custom Painted Tack Box

This instructable explains how I custom painted a tack box for my nephew to use at our county's youth fair every year. The animals I chose to showcase in the painting are the breeds he exhibits during fair week.

- Wood tack box

- interior latex paint (brown outside, orange inside)

- design template

- chalk, masking tape, ball point pen, permanent marker and paint brushes

- acrylic paints

- polyurethane

I created a design template on my computer using Photoshop and printed it (to scale) on sheets of legal sized paper that had to then be taped together.

To transfer the image I used a piece of artist's soft pastel chalk to shade in the WRONG (unprinted) side of the template (creating a homemade carbon paper). Then I placed the image right side up onto the lid of the box and traced it's outline using a ball point pen. ( be sure to tape the template it in place with masking tape so that it does not slip while you're outlining.)

Because this transfer is done with chalk I retraced it with permanent marker so that it would not wipe away during the painting process.

Once I got to work on painting the animals I overlooked getting my camera out to capture the process. I painted the animals in depth order - starting with the bull because he is in the very back, then the cow, sheep, pig and finally the goat.

Once the box was completely done I made sure to paint clear polyurethane (min-wax) over the entire outside to provided long-lasting protection to the wood surface.