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Faux Distressed Finish, Mood effected by color, Spritz gold on picture frames, stripping |
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Faux Finishes - DistressedI get a lot of requests for information about how to do the Shabby Chic® style, which is a registered trademark, so we'll just give them that plug as an explanation, then we'll call the procedures by other names.I would strongly advise against doing any of the following procedures on antiques, as they would lose their antique value for the next hundred years. In the 1950's my parents relegated the wooden kitchen drop leaf table to the back porch and put a shiny chrome dinette set in it's place. The new table had a formica top that looked like gray and white marble and vinyl seats and backs on the chairs that matched the table top. My mother wanted the oak buffet to match the table and chairs and she was one to think that anything could be done if you wanted to do it bad enough and she eyed the oak buffet for a while. (A quick aside, back then the buffet was just an old piece of furniture and I wasn't too interested in antiques then, because I was at an age where I had discovered girls and to this day they still scare me) Anyway, my mother wanted the oak buffet to match the dinette set, so she painted it gray to match the gray in the table top, then she poured white paint into a paper bag and splooped it around on the gray painted buffet and gently feathered the white paint and lo and behold we had a matching dinette set with a buffet. The worn look has been popular for years and probably will stay forever popular. You can do a worn look with one color and down to bare looking wood or use two or more colors for some pretty dramatic effects. To have the worn to wood look you need to decide where the wear should be, such as edges and if there are doors and drawers, open and shut them a few times to see where your fingernails might wear a finish away and any places you might accidentally kick the finish. To have a worn to wood look you'll need to sand the existing finish clear to the wood where you want the wear to be, then seal the surface with a clear sealer to protect the wood. Shellac or clear acrylic is good for sealing. Put two or three coats of sealer on letting each coat dry completely before applying the next, then sand lightly with 220 grit sandpaper. Paint your piece of furniture with your choice of color. A water base paint is easier to use and less messy to work with. While the paint is still wet take a water dampened sponge and wipe the paint away to the sealer coat in the areas you chose to look worn. Keep a container of clean water handy so you can rinse the excess paint out of the sponge after each wipe-off of paint. After you get the most appealing appearance feather the edges of the paint, where you wiped, with a dry brush until it looks worn rather than wiped. You can stop with the painted surface or after letting the paint cure for several days you can apply a coat of clear acrylic for added protection. This link will take you to several Clear Finishes and some good Books about finishes and finishing. Mood and colorThe color you choose for your furniture piece may be decided by your mood at the time of your decision and can effect your mood later. Have you ever bought something, making your decision largely on the color of the object, then put it away and later after getting it back out wondered why in the world you ever bought it?Since we're going to have several installments concerning colors of furniture pieces we'll get into the phenomena of our color choices being decided by moods and moods being altered by color choices. Colors effecting moods have been studied for years and the colors have been grouped in three categories active passive and neutral. The effect of color is important in choosing the right color for matting pictures too. For instance if you have a picture of your child with a group of other children at a school picnic and your child is wearing something making a little splash of red, among the myriad colors in the picture, you can make your child stand out by using a double mat with the inner mat a red color as close to the red in the picture as possible and an outer mat color compatible with the red, the colors in the picture and your decor. The thin line of red around the picture will make the red in the picture jump out bringing your child along with it. It works with other colors too. Volumes have been written about the effect of color and we'll see if we can condense some of the information and include it in the newsletter to give some ideas for furniture decorating and picture framing. Decorate a Picture FrameYou can decorate a picture frame to give it just an extra touch of class and enough difference in appearance to have a redecorating effect.Spritz the frame with gold.Spritz the frame with gold. Use masking tape and newspaper to completely cover the glass area inside the frame to save a lot of work taking the picture out.Spritz with Gold Metallic Spray PaintLay the picture frame down on the floor or ground. Be sure to protect anything nearby that you don't want spritzed and set the frame on newspapers or a drop cloth. Spritz with Gold metallic spray paintSpritz with Gold Glitter Spray PaintFor an even different effect, spritz with a can of gold glitter spray paintGold Leafing PenYou can also highlight areas with a gold leafing penReal Gold LeafFor a really dramatic effect you can use simulated or real Gold LeafStrippingquestion.....Subject: Re: Stripping FurnitureWhat is the easiest stripper to use? How long do you leave it on? Does the wood have to look like unfinished furniture when the varnish has been removed? reply.....One of the best strippers is Citristrip It's easier on your health and the environment than most other strippers, it works good and has a pleasant orange odor. It's safe to use inside, but you should still have ventilation. The length of time will vary depending on what you're stripping. Apply a good heavy coat and let it sit for 15 - 20 minutes, then test scrape with a plastic scraper with rounded corners. If it comes off easy, then scrape the rest off. If it doesn't come right off, then let it sit another 15 - 20 minutes and test again. When the time is right most of the old finish will push off without any real scraping. You may have to reapply stripper and use the same procedure several times to get all of the old finish off. Some finishes are very stubborn, so if the stripper starts to dry before the finish softens, apply another coat of stripper and cover it with some plastic. Plastic wrap, plastic drop cloths, or just about any other sheet plastic will work. Don't use any that has printing that might dissolve and bleed onto your furniture. Test periodically until the old finish is ready to come off. If you really have to work at removing the old finish you aren't letting the stripper sit and work long enough. Unless you're working with blonde furniture or furniture that has had just a clear finish with no stain it's not necessary for it to be to raw wood, because you will probably want to stain anyway, even if the color is just what you want. The color from previous staining will go pretty deep into the wood. If the color is what you want you should stain with a color about in the medium range of the existing color, otherwise, if you just put a clear finish without restaining, the surface could be uneven or blotchy. We're proud to be an affiliate of Blick Art Materials |  View Larger Image
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