Painted Antlers

Along with skulls, nautical goodies, throw pillows, blankets, and area rugs, I am also a big fan of antlers. They're sleek, they're strong, they're beautiful, and most importantly, they're dangerous. I'm particular to deer antlers, though.

Living in the midwest, we see a lot of deer out here, crossing the road, in the parks, and unfortunately, on people's walls as trophies. Luckily, antlers are naturally shed each year, so the deer don't have to suffer at all for me to have them for this project!

I purchased my antlers & pieces from a seller on Etsy. For this project, I'll just be using pieces for practice. Later on, I might make a jewelry rack from the two larger sized antlers I also received. This post will also only show the process for two pieces, but you'll see the final result of the four I've done so far.

After gathering my supplies, I started to tape off sections of each antler with painter's tape.

I wanted to paint some color blocks on each while still preserving the integrity of the antler itself. This part was the hardest, as wrapping tape around imperfectly round objects is not an easy task when you want all of the lines to be seamless.

After the tape was on each antler, I decided on the colors, and got to painting.

Once the initial coat on these had dried, I added some details using a smaller brush and different colored paint.

Then all I had to do was remove the tape, and voila, these bad boys are done!

These two are alright, but they aren't my favorite. I actually liked my first pair much more, without any hand painted detail. I also really like the color combination on my first two much more than either of the ones above. You live and you learn, right?