Painting wooden spoons for presents!

I like wooden spoons! I have a few favourites that I use over and I love them. My favourite is one I got from the markets from a guy that hand carved them. They weren't cheap, but they were beautiful. I bought one and had a plan to get one a week until I had "the set" but he never came back...

So like everyone else, I have an odd collection of wooden spoons that I got from different places at different times that I use in the kitchen for stirring everything from large pots of jam to sautéing in a non stick pan. I decided to share my love of wooden spoons and give them to loved ones for Christmas gifts. I found spoons varied in quality and price and in the end went for middle of the road spoons - but I made them into fun, quirky and better quality ones at home!

Here's what I did...

I bought all my spoons from various places and sanded them a little to make sure they were smooth and free from splinters.

I wrapped a piece of electrical tape tightly around the handle at about the 7cm mark on each handle no matter what the length.

This is to create a professional looking mask so that when I paint the handles, there is a distinct line when I take the tape off.

I chose to paint them into sets of three with each size being a different colour. The small ones became red, the medium, yellow and the large, purple handled. I used the acrylic paints that you can get in the cheapy shops but if you have house paint in a colour that you like, I can't see why you cant use that also.

I popped them in the sun to dry (that doesn't take long in the height of summer here in Brisbane!)

Then with a can of clear enamel paint, I sprayed the painted end a few times, drying between coats, to further protect the paint from wear and tear

Once the paint was well and truly dry, I took the tape of carefully and liberally applied home made "Spoon Butter" to the other end of the spoon. I didn't put any over the painted end.

Spoon butter is a mix of beeswax and coconut oil that soaks into the wood and helps it to stop drying out quickly. I treat my wooden kitchen equipment wit it pretty regularly. Leave the spoon butter to soak in for a few hours or overnight and then gently rub off the excess.

In the end, I had sets of home improved commercial spoons that were fun and quirky as well as unique and partly hand made. I was quite pleased with them and happy to give them at Christmas to the cooks in my family!

I made a set with bees waxed cloth and fridge magnet pegs and made my own packaging on the computer. It was a fun project for home made Christmas gifts!

Do you have an "improvement" that you make to a household item to make it better? Let us know in the comments section and share it with us all!

Score card:
Green-ness: ?/5 not sure about the greenness of commercial paints... 
Frugal-ness: 4/5 for creating a unique home improved gift from an inexpensive item!
Time cost: An afternoon of painting, spraying and spoon buttering!
Skill level: Painting, in bright colours!
Fun-ness: Good fun to make a really cool, useful and fun present for people you know will use them!