They That Go Down to the Sea in Ships

A few weeks ago, while vacationing in Boston, we ferried over to the town of Gloucestor, one of the earliest English settlements. It is now known for the Rocky Neck Art Colony, where many artists call home.

The town was and still is a major seafaring and fishing port. Heard of Gorton’s fish sticks?  Well, Gorton’s of Gloucestor was founded here back in 1849, and the company still catches and processes their seafood here.

Anyway, there is a monument dedicated to the thousands of fishermen who ventured out to sea. The monument reads “They that go down to the sea in ships.” It’s actually from a psalm in the bible.

History lesson over.  Craft time begins.

The trip to Gloucester and this verse resonated with my husband, so I decided to paint a small knick-knack box for him, and incorporated the first line of the verse. This is the wooden box I found at a garage sale for 50 cents.

The interior was dark, so I ripped out what I could, and the rest would be painted and covered with decorative paper.

I painted the box with Behr Oops paint and added grain sack stripes with seafaring colors. The wood is very grainy, which is perfect for the look I was going for. It made distressing very easy.

I printed the verse — in reverse —  on the shiny side of a transparency sheet and transferred it to the lid. I also added an image of an anchor in the same way.

I covered the inside lid and drawer with nautical paper I found in my stash. Then I gave the entire box two coats of polyacrylic spray to seal and protect it.

I adhered an old screw & bolt to the front of the drawer for the pull.

My husband was so surprised. It is a great momento of our trip as well as a good storage box for his desk.