Free Projects for Tole Painted Garden Art

Garden Furniture

• Tole painting enhances the look of wooden garden furniture. Floral designs carefully placed on headrests, armrests or the center of seats and tabletops give common garden furniture a custom appearance that will delight visitors. Be careful not to go overboard with the tole painting. More is less with this type of decorative art. One carefully placed design is more captivating than an object covered in detail.

Flowerpots

• Flowerpots pop when tole painted. This is an inexpensive way to bring a theme into the garden. Consider painting a group of three or five pots of varying sizes. Use patterns that wrap around the pot so that pots moved continue to show the pattern. A large pot turned upside down becomes a table by adding a large ceramic tile. Secure the tile with ceramic glue.

Garden Rocks

• Smooth round river rocks become name tags with tole painting and calligraphy. Mark favorite herbs, plants or flowering bushes with the tole painted rocks. This serves a dual purpose. First, the rocks identify the placement of herbs or flowers while they are first growing. Second, they become markers of what perennial plants are in what spots at the end of the year.

Stepping-Stones

• Stepping-stones that are tole painted add splashes of color to gravel paths and lawns. Slate and ceramic stepping-stones work well for this project. Large tole painting patterns display best on stepping stones, especially when painted in vibrant colors. Paint every other stone if the path is longer than 10 or 12 feet.

Weatherproofing

• Regardless of the garden art project, the object that is tole painted needs weatherproofing to keep the design from peeling off or fading. Apply several light coats of polyurethane with a high quality brush. Weatherproofing protects the tole painted items for many years. Keeping tole painted items out of direct sunlight is also helpful to maintaining the brightness and integrity of the design.