Embossed Cheese Dome Cloche

Late last summer I saw a cheese dome cloche made by the wonderful Allison at House of Hepworths.

Not too long after that, I came upon my own Goodwill cheese dome and thought I’d give it a whirl.

I started with a basic cheese dome and candlestick and glued them together.

I was originally just going to do a straight copy of Alison’s cloche. You know, paint it the Oil-Rubbed Bronze (ORB) and call it finished.

About the time I was making the cloche, though, I was also working on my embossing techniques.

Since I had the cloche handy, I thought I’d try my hand at writing on it.

I piped, “These Are A Few of My Favorite Things…” around the edge.

I put in the row of peals, to see how I liked it. Then I ORB’ed it back up.

Eh. Not bad, but I wanted a little something more.

I got distracted with other projects and set this aside for awhile. As often happens with me, I change moods pretty fast. By the time I came back around to finishing up the cloche, my ORB mood had passed.

My copper mood has also come and gone.

I’m now in my silver phase, and truth be told, I’ll probably always be in a silver phase to one degree or another.

I picked up some Rub’nBuff in the Silver Leaf finish to hit the high points.

You do not need a lot of this product. The tiniest amount goes a long way. I like to put a rag around my finger really tightly and wipe a dot (less than a grain of rice) on the rag. Smear it around on a piece of scratch paper before you start wiping onto your project.

Then just very lightly hit the high points.

When you lightly hit the high points, it looks like the word “My” looks there.

I got a little carried away, but I liked how it looks.Let’s say I was going for more of an aged silver look. 

When you get carried away, it looks like the rest of the cloche. You’ll end up getting the Rub’nBuff on the background.

A light touch is important if you’re trying to just accent the highlights.

These little cloches are not very big. I’ve hard a bit of a time finding something that I already own that will fit in them.

Too much glass, not enough color.

Too much color.

Not bad, but doesn’t really thrill me.

Better, and this is how it was most of the winter. I had a blue theme going on the mantle.

It’s still a work in progress. I may yet copy Alison and find some mini fruit to put in there.

I found these birds at The Flower Factory closeout sale. They were $.34/each. They need a make over, but they fit inside the cloche. I may do a nest and have just one in the cloche. I just don’t know yet.

Cost Breakdown:

• Cheese Dome - $2.92
• Candlestick – $.25
• Rub’nBuff - $3.99
• ORB Spray Paint, Glue, Embossing Spackle – Stock on hand

Total Project Cost - $7.16

Total Project Time – About 1.5 hours (including drying time)

How about you? Have you copied anyone’s idea lately and made it your own? I’d love to hear about it.

Suesan