Tribal Art Using Plywood and Stain

This isn't reeeally home reno-ish, but DIY art with plywood seemed appropriate for a post and, if I really wanted to stretch it, it's DIY staging ;)

Painting the bedroom, I was aiming for Asian themed. I tried picking a green reminiscent of bamboo. But, like the vast majority of paint choices, it wasn't perfect. It is gorgeous and I love it, but it is definitely more tropical than Asian so it now doesn't go with the giant black screen with gold bamboo. I love doing my own artwork and I also really like to work with cheap or free materials, so I decided to try out staining a pattern into wood using painter's tape.

I started out picking up materials. I found a really pretty piece of plywood at the Restore and some dark brown stain for under $15. The entire piece was about 4' x 8' and I (not thinking things through) had driven my little car and not brought any rope or bungee. I snapped the board in half and used the tiny little rope I had in my emergency car repair kit to tie the board to the top of my car. I made it home, but the plywood really acted like a sail...you've got to take adventures where you find them!
I had painter's tape and a foam bush at home and Adam and I went to pick up a new circular saw blade and picture hanging supplies.

I cut the boards to size with a circular saw. Then I taped designs into the board. For the record, painter's tape does not actually lie automatically in a straight line like you would hope. I found the easiest way to get a straight line was to get the angle right, attach one end, then press against one edge rather than in the middle (horizontal middle) of the tape. Making the angles in line with the grain also helped to eyeball it.

After laying out the tape, I dipped the foam brush in the stain, just the tip since I didn't want a bunch of stain that would saturate the wood. Using as little as possible, the painter's tape held up pretty well. I was using frog tape with color lock or whatever they call it.
Then I let it dry, remove the tape, and...voila!

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