Pressed plants decorated container

I have this white plastic SUNNERSTA container from Ikea and it really does not fit into it’s black and wooden surrounding, could anything be done about that?

Materials

• container
• pressed plants
• acrylic gesso (optional)
• acrylic paint
• acrylic varnish

Decorating

Paint does not adhere well to plastic and can be scratched off. I found that vinyl acrylic paint holds better than regular acrylic, and acrylic gesso adheres even better than both. Since the piece will be protected by multiple layers of varnish, this may not be a major concern, but to be safe, I first primed the container with gesso.

Next, I painted it with acrylics, creating a gradient from black at the top to very dark green at the bottom, which I mixed using black and lemon yellow. Once it dried, I added simple plant designs in dark green with yellow flowers.

After ensuring the paint was completely dry, I positioned dried plants on the container one by one and applied acrylic varnish over them with a brush, just enough to hold them in place. It may be necessary to hold the plant down with something until the varnish dries. For larger leaves, I had to lift them to apply varnish underneath. Before varnishing the empty spaces, I painted some white stars with acrylic paint.

Finally, I varnished the entire surface, applying around five layers, adding more where the plants stuck out. Be sure to let each layer dry completely before adding the next.

The flatter the plant, the easier it sticks. Flat container also makes it easier, it will be diffult to make on a round container.

Result