PAINTING THE MARIAN SHRINE

Before I could start painting the actual shrine, I had to strip the paint off of the Madonna and child statue. It had at least 3 layers of paint-black, turquoise and light pink.  But, remember, I found this statue for a mere$12.00-a true diamond in the rough.

At first, I started sanding it.  I didn't get too far.

 I took a quick trip to Walmart and found a spray stripper that you could use on mortar.  That would be perfect since the statue was made of concrete.

One and one half hours later, the statue was clean of any paint.  It was amazing how many details showed now that the layers of paint were removed.  However, there was a hole where the baby Jesus' nose was.  It must have been an air pocket left when the statue was originally made.

If I have learned anything from my refinishing jobs, don't skip a step.  I knew I would not be happy with the statue in that condition.  I pulled out the wall spackle and filled in the hole on the nose.

 Pulling out some elephant colored chalk paint, I touched up the nose.

Now, I could proceed to the actual painting of the shrine.

I had a jar of old paint which was half periwinkle(Integrity) and half white.  Notice that it is in an old baby food jar.  This part of the painting would not use that much paint.

 I  taped off the sides of the inside of the shrine.

One quick coat of the Integrity and white paint covered the back of the shrine.

I purchased a stencil online to use for the accent wall.

I was going to use my gold gilding wax to paint the stencil.  I was a bit nervous because this wax smears everywhere, so I had to be very careful in applying it.  Here  is where I took a deep breath.

I laid out the stencil and taped the sides.

I was completely surprised at how fast this stencil could be painted.

So far, so good.

Once the stencil was done, I set the statue back into the shrine.  I already am thrilled with the progress.  But now, I don't think I am going to paint the outside.

Remember that the new molding on the left side of the shrine is raw wood.  I bought some dark walnut stain and I will re-stain the whole outside.

In order to ready the shrine for the staining process, I taped foil onto the inside of the door so none of the stain would damage the painted stencil inside the box.

The best color of  stain was dark walnut.  Using a foam brush, I stained all of the exterior surfaces of the shrine.

The side molding needed to match the original stain.

The stain took perfectly to the raw wood.

The stain gave the overall piece a much richer color.

Notice the bottom molding where the right half has not been stained.

Finished staining process.

I wanted to highlight some of the raised areas on the detail outside the box.  In order to use the gilding gold wax, I needed to tape off the areas of the front in order to have clean lines with the gold wax.  The blue painter's tape worked perfectly.

The finished gilding.

The final step was to insert the new glass into the shrine door.

The finished project.

I added felted feet to the bottom of the shrine.


  I am very pleased with the outcome of this project.
It will be on prominent display in our home.