Faux patina update

 When they say ‘the material suggests’ it really means go with the flow…so I did.

Turns out this chest of drawers has a subtle theme and is about the memory of dreaming as a kid….more later.

So the drawer fronts were distressed with sandpaper and made to look vintage.  As I worked away I couldn’t help associating the look and feel of old maps with old worn atlases that we used to have in school and that’s when I decided the edges of the frame should look like old school desks.  So then I worked away at distressing the front of the drawers with felt tips, paint, a Stanley knife and latex paint to look like old school wooden rulers and desks.  I really like that association and it makes me remember dreaming in school of all the places I hoped to travel to in years to come.

Then when I came to do the legs, I decided to use a metallic paint that lends itself really well to pearlised patina.  I arrived at all these decisions basically because I had certain problems that I had to address, especially as the piece has to fit in my bedroom.  I didn’t want the little chest to come out too far forward in the sense that the colour was too saturated and bright.  

Then after all that gold paint around the top and the sides and the aged map, I realised the feet or legs had to somehow link up with the crystal handles and pop as it were.  

What do the feet remind you of?

Correct, merry-go-round horses at Fun Fairs!  I think that association is something I just couldn’t ignore and so I maxed that one out.

So now my big thing is varnishing the piece, fixing some edges down with stronger glue, then attaching the feet and handles.

Alas, the template I made for the drawer handle holes was far from perfect and I had some cold sweats with those.  I still need to work on that.  

I am breaking down each section to be worked into half hour slots.  I find this really helps me to make consistent progress and dispenses with indecisive paralysis, because all the thinking time is done away from the item.  If my template had been completely symmetrical then I would’ve finished by now.  I’ve marked up the top and bottom of the template now, so hopefully for the next set of drawers I won’t have all this bother.