Fanshawe Designer Cupboard

 Fanshawe Designer Cupboard.

I received an interesting email from Jenny Cuyler, the Retail Promotions Coordinator/GM Buyer at Fanshawe College last week and she gave me an interesting proposition.

Original Cabinet

Jenny said, "We are starting a program in the Clothing Store called, Fanshawe Artisans. It will enable Fanshawe Alumni, Staff, Students, and Community members to sell their handmade items (on consignment) in the Clothing Store. They will be selecting limited items, and displaying the artisan's information with their item(s), so that customers can inquire further. We would like to set up the smaller items on a large shelving unit that we have in the Clothing Store, but would like to have it painted, first." So I said yes we will do it and here is the story of its transformation.

To start they delivered it right to the door which is very handy to have someone do. Jenny came by the same day and we discussed various options and I presented to her some ideas that I had.

Primed Cabinet

It was decided to give me some artistic licence so here we go. I started by preparing the piece. I moved the shelf hardware and the knobs. The knobs we discarded as I replaced them with ones of a larger size to go more into the scale of the unit.

As there were some very prominent knots on the piece I sprayed those with a shellac based sealer. Normally with van Gogh chalk paint we do not sand or prime and other than sealing the knots this is what we did here. Choosing the correct colours was next. Red, White and Gray were the colours we choose. They specifically are van Gogh Fossil Paint "Lipstick", Stan Portleys signature series van Gogh Fossil Paint "Dragon's Gray" and van Gogh Fossil Paint "Chalk" which is an off-white. Also used was van Gogh Liquid Metals "True Love" which is a metallic red.

I painted the entire unit with our signature colour "Dragons Gray. This was for a number of reasons.

First, when I go to distress my thoughts would be if I distressed too hard there would still be gray showing through.

Second, because the next coat of paint would be the van Gogh Liquid Metals "True Love" which is a metallic red we do need a base coat of it.

Third, I planned on leaving the inside and the shelves the Dragon's Gray so it was just as easy to paint the whole thing.



Side view

Front View

 I then paint the inside back and the outside of the cabinet including 2 of the drawers the van Gogh Liquid Metals "True Love", metallic red.

What a wonderful colour! Bright and warm. Look at the shimmer.

 I also did our van Gogh Tye Dye technique to give a flair to the middle drawer and the new knobs on the upper and lower
drawers.

Finished Front

 The knobs on the middle drawer where done in van Gogh Liquid Metals, "True Love" metallic red and van Gogh Liquid Metals, "To The Bride" which is a metallic white.

The "Tye Dye" technique is probably the messiest of an technique I do. For this
drawer front I used a plastic drop sheet and made a curb around the top of my work table with the drop sheet draped over the curb.

The "Tye Dye" effect is using a special acrylic medium from the van Gogh Paintology Collection.


Finished LHS

 We add this to the chalk paint and the metallic paint and then vary the amount of water we mix in to vary the specific gravity of the paint or "thickness" of the paint.

Now we take the various paints and randomly pour, drizzle, throw etc. them over our work piece.

We then picked up the drawer, and moved it around. In doing so we see the different colours of paint move across the surface of the drawer front at different speeds.

The "thicker" paint running slower than the "thinner" paint. When we have the coverage and look that we want we set the drawer down so that the drawer front is horizontal and parallel to the table. It then takes over night to dry and up to 36 hours to cure to where we can apply our wax finish to the surface.

There are two more things we had to do and that is; distress the outside of the cabinet to reveal some of the beautiful, van Gogh Liquid Metals, "True Love", metallic red. Knobs were installed and then the final thing before waxing was putting the graphics on the side. I have to thank my friend Joanne Mudd of Muddarittaville fame for doing such a great job on the stencils for the project. Now I have to wax but that can wait a few days. Next project is an art deco cabinet we picked up recently. Stay tuned for more.

Tye Dye for Furniture

Five samples done. They have been paired to represent time and the change over time of the design. Top sample is 24 hours after application. The bottom  example of each sample is 2 hours after application

Tye Dye for furniture who'd a thunk it!! Back when we were younger we would take fabric dye and tie-dye our t-shirts. The basic principle behind it is to produce an organic pattern by tieing knots in the material thereby limiting the amount of dye that would go into the t-shirt at different areas.

Tye Dye for furniture is and can be quite funky looking but also could be quite elegant. In the samples above we have used very bold colours. However this need not be the end result. The following examples show what can be done with a less bold palette of beige, tan, brown and black.

Drawer and samples done

Here we see the face of a drawer that we did in the colours above (vGCP Cashmere, vGCP Serenity, vGCP Balsamic and vGCP Revenge. I added an additional two, one was mascara and the other was a blend vGCP Balsamic and vGCP Cashmere. It created an additional tone between the Cashmere and the Serenity.

In preparation to do a Tye Dye job I start by picking the colours that are most appropriate for what I am doing. I try and pick out one main colour which is the same as the body of the piece being painted and then a complimentary colour or colours that will give the piece a bit of sophistication. Though my choice that I made above now looks frightfully like camouflage but we can work with it. I then take a number of small containers (I use 1oz containers that I get from U-Line and they have lids that I can close and save any of the mix I have left for another job. I am not sure how long it lasts but I have some that I mixed over a week ago that are still good.

Initial Setup for Application

Into each of the containers I will put an even amount of the Tye Dye Medium to start. I will then put a different amount of water into each of the containers. We then put a different colour in each container and stir to emulsify the liquid. What this does is it changes the viscosity or the informal notion of "thickness" of the mixture.

 Now not to get too technical a liquids viscosity depends on the size and shape of the liquids particles and the friction of the different particles to each other. The particles in the liquid will essential move at different velocities to each other. The other thing that is affected in the liquid is the specific gravity which by relation is the density of the liquid or mass of a liquid compared to a reference substance or liquid. This affects the buoyancy of the liquid and the denser the liquid, the greater the buoyancy will be of the liquids that we are using.

What means, as we vary the amount of water (the only variable we control for) the different colours of paint will float on, under or beside the others causing every time a  unique flow of the paint colours which lead to a very organic design being created. There are other variables such as pigment shape and the amount of water in the paint being added but they are not measureable or need to be to get the result that we want. In fact you can probably ignore most of my "technical explanation" and still have fun and become very creative.

I spoke to Kathy van Gogh about the process and ultimately it is the result that is important and we need to know that varying the water will give us the most randomness of anything we do.


Colour preparation at Women's Lifestyle Show 2014 in London.

Generally, the application is done a number of ways. I can pour it on. I can drizzle it on with a stick, small brush or other tool (I used a feather on one like one would do when veining faux marble). Once the liquids are applied, the idea is to pick up the piece and turn it "every which way" and till all the voids and "holidays" are filled. Try not to use your fingers etc to move the colour around as this in most cases will "muddy" the application.

I also used an aluminum pan underneath the pieces I was working on and inside the pan I put a sheet of "temporary palette" to catch the drips. I will later take that piece and turn it every which way like I did my work piece and I will end up with what could be a work of art.

"Temporary Palette used to catch the drips. Now a "famous" work of art?

The process from start to complete dry time for the work piece can be up to 36 hours. At that time you can finish with a wax or varnish finish.

Bobbie and I at the Women's Lifestyle Show 2014.

Well that is it in a nut shell. We could get into really drawn out explanation regarding all kinds of scientific principles. However to use this product that is not needed. Just simple add the medium to a container. Add some water and vary the water between your various containers. Add your chalk paint colours and then go for it. You're the artist, it is you palette. Lets see what you can come up with.

Next blog is "opalescent to oil slick". van Gogh Furniture Frosting and Texturizing.