Q: What Can You Paint With Furniture Paint?
A: Just About Everything!
I love that a coat of paint has the ability to transform things from the ordinary to the extraordinary. It's such a simple way to give things a facelift, but it's not just timber furniture that you can paint with "furniture paint". There aren't many things you can't make over with a few coats of our Vintage Bird Furniture Paint.
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These include a wide selection of different fabrics, tin and other metals, glass, laminate and more. Imagine the fun you could have!
I just recently finished painting the faded, dated, embroidered cover on this chair. It came up a treat in Hope's Latte with the frame re-painted in Black Cat. Ready for the office area of my new studio re-model. (More about that later...)
It's best to paint on to natural fibres, or natural blends such as cotton, linen, velvet,calico, hessian, and corduroy for example.
The five steps for success are:
- Clean the surface throughly (vacuum or wash). Iron any creases from pillow slips or other loose fabrics before you start painting.
- Use a water spray bottle on the fine mist setting to dampen the area that you will start painting first.
- Using a method similar to dry brushing, place a small amount of paint on the tip of your brush and then use a "stippling" technique to brush the fabric with the paint. Be sure not to over load the brush and apply too thick.
- Dampen the next area and move on with your painting, applying in thin coats (you may need three thin coats).
- Let the area dry thoroughly (overnight preferably) and then apply two thin layers of clear furniture wax) Buff gently and then enjoy your handiwork! You can use the Madeline natural bristle wax brush to work the wax into the fibre for this step.
If you are painting on non fixed fabric, such as a cushion cover, or making a fabric wall hanging, ensure you place some thick cardboard or something similar between the layers to stop the paint from soaking though the the other side/layers of fabric.
To apply stencilled text or an image on to fabric, follow the above steps, and be sure to only place a very small amount of paint on your brush. It's bet to use a stiff bristled stencil brush, and hold the brush at a 90 degree angle to the surface whilst you are dabbing the fabric with the paint. It's a good idea to have some paper towel or a painting rag handy to wipe any excess paint off the tip of your brush. As in the technique outlined above, paint in thin coats. You may need three coats, however applying the paint too thickly may result in the paint cracking and falling off the fabric.
I like to dry my painted fabric with a hair dryer or heat gun set on a low setting. This helps to set the paint to the fabric. After this step, the fabric can be hand washed in Luke warm water with a gentle detergent (like a wool wash) if it needs cleaning.
These linen blend fusion covers were a bargain buy form IKEA, and are. generous size with sweet ties on the reverse side. The stencil used here is from another Australian biz, Barleycorn Vintage Stencils.
Don’t forget... Beautiful “Black Cat” is our Vintage Bird Paint Colour of the Month for August. You can find it here:
The sky's the limit once you have the hang of it. Have fun, and as always, happy painting.
Corrina from Bird on the Hill.