Man I love salvaging the junk I pick up at thrift stores & garage sales. If you’ve read my blog before, you’ll know that I have a whole host of things I like to keep an eye out for when I’m thrifting… napkin rings is one of them. In most cases, the napkin rings I find are pretty boring or cheesy, but every once in a while I’ll come across something that has promise of adding a worthwhile design element to a table…. which is exactly how I ended up creating these Gothic Angel Napkin Rings!
I actually bought these napkin holders at a thrift store around Christmas time. It seems that Christmas and Valentine’s Day are equally popular times to find anything cherub related. I don’t know what it is, but I totally dig cherubs…. not the cute baby style, but that old grave stone style cherub. Those stone cherubs have that Victorian Gothic thing going for them that I’m so drawn to. The good news is that even the sweetest of cherubs can be brought to the dark side with just a bit of paint!
With V-day right around the corner, I figured this was a good time to upcycle these bad boys. While I would certainly use them all year long… they do have a particular Gothic-Valentine-esque quality to them. And even if you have no Anti-Valentine dinner plans coming up….. now is the time to keep your eyes open for cherubs. They are everywhere… and in a week, when Valentine’s day has passed, you can get some great deals on all of that crap!
When it comes to entertaining pieces, I do actually love black & gold. I have paired gold napkin rings with black napkins in the past and they’ve looked beautiful. But these gold cherubs just weren’t cutting it for me. I’m not sure if they looked to Christmas-y or just too plain. They were in serious need of some vintage drama! Mission accomplished with a bit of paint and metallic wax!
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To recreate these napkin rings, you will need:
- Black Paint
- Red Acrylic Paint
- Paint Brushes
- Antique Gold Rub ‘n Buff Metallic Wax
- Tassel Fringe
It should come as no surprise that I kicked this project off by painting these napkin rings black. While I do love the look of stone cherubs, the spray paints out there that offer a stone finish don’t look very realistic to me, and it would require some faux painting techniques that I have not yet mastered. Challenge accepted! Stay tuned for a faux stone tutorial one of these days!! I have many cherubs in need of a makeover!! Anyway, for this project, I used a matte black spray paint.
I decided to try adding a bit of red for some added dimension. Using a very small paintbrush, I painted the face, body, and hair. The color I used was True Red. I’ll warn you… this step looks a bit frightful… See the photo! But don’t have fear.. it gets worse before it can get better! You don’t need to be too especially careful or concerned with the coverage because you’ll be wiping it off anyway. When I first painted the red, it was just way too bright. I thought the cherubs looked like a cheap Halloween prop. While the paint was still wet, I used a paper towel to wipe the red off. This left a nice distressed red tint. I intentionally rubbed it off more in some places. Some of the wet paint will get caught in the small creases. Use a small dry paintbrush to dab that up. I then used that brush to add a bit more red to places where I may have wiped off too much. There’s no exact science.
The final step in the distressing process is the metallic wax. I absolutely love using rub n buff. I used the Antique Gold
For an added touch of Victorian Gothic glamour, I decided to add a black beaded tassel to each napkin ring. Instead of buying or making individual tassels, I took a shortcut, and took the tassels off of some fringe I had on hand. If you pull slowly but firmly, each tassel will pull away from the trim, leaving strands long enough to be tied behind the cherub.
For this place setting, I paired the napkin rings with a red satin striped napkin, black plate, and a red scrolled charger. These work perfectly for both Valentine’s Day and Christmas. I think these would also look amazing with an all black & gold set up for any day of the year!
For more table setting ideas, check out this Skeleton Hand Place Card Holder, this Toe Tag inspired Table, a Table set for a Vampire, and a Halloween Dinner Party.
Another hauntingly beautiful move from drab to the dark side my love. Gorgeous! 🖤
Thank you so much!!!
Super cool. So glad I stumbled onto your website a few months back!!
Thanks so much Sharon!!