Bourbon Barrel Project on Town Branch

Well, here they are the bourbon barrels....  I am SO excited to have the opportunity to participate in this project.  I love it when history, heritage, community, and art come together and this is one of those times.  I will include the link at the bottom if you would like to know more about the project. I submitted 2 designs for this project, but I did not really expect to be chosen, but I hoped at least one would be chosen.  I called to arrange pick up of my one barrel, that I was overjoyed to have, only to be told I had two designs chosen.  I think they are beautiful in their raw form, but I am going to have so much fun transforming them, and I decided to blog about the process.
Day One:  August 1, 2013

Chad goes to pick up the barrels and I came home and this was the first time I saw them.  I can attest that they smell just like you think they would, which to me, is wonderful!  I love bourbon, I love that it is Kentuckian, and I love wood barrels.  Chad and I recently toured the Woodford Reserve Distillery, and my very favorite part of the tour, was getting to see all those barrels stacked in the warehouse.
I just love them.

 Day 2: August 2, 2013

The next night, I was working late on a mural job, and I got home around 1:00am, and saw that Chad had been working on making room for me to work on them, adding lights to the workshop, and building me a stand to hold them up to a comfortable work height. Wow, Thanks Chad!  (I think he is as excited as I am about them).  He is definitely doing his part so far:). This is how these will be displayed, so I have to work on them sideways.  Now I am ready to get to work!

 Day 3, 2013

 First thing, I have to do is to get all the rust off the straps and sand the splintery wood.  So, a rust bath it is.... I mixed up a solution of White Distilled Vinegar and Dawn dishsoap and used a wire brush to scrub all the rust off the straps.  It came off with ease and is ready to prep for paint.

We thought it was pretty neat to find the date on this barrel.  It will be painted over, so I wanted to save the picture.

This is Barrel Number 1, which is titled "The Bourbon Trail"  To  bring the design to life, the first step was to sand , which I did, and then to stain.  I was originally going to set them both up so that I could work on them at the same time, but I decided I just want to do this one and get it done and then work on the other one.  I never can focus on just one thing and get it done before moving to the next. I always am juggling on average 7 or 8 projects at once.  Chad is betting against me being able to stick to that strategy on this project. I may break down and set them both up, but for now I just want to focus on this one.

I will keep posting about the progress, but if you would like to know more about the Bourbon Barrel Project on Town Branch you can  go to the link www.bourbonbarrels.org You can also like them on Facebook and follow all the barrels as well as  important opportunities for viewing them when they are on display.


Until we meet again,
JD