Editor’s note: Our Mind Upon Mind series is a nod to a 1937 Chips from the Chisel column (also featured in “Honest Labour: The Charles H. Hayward Years”), in which Hayward wrote, “The influence of mind upon mind is extraordinary.” The idea being there’s often room for improvement. To that end, we’ve asked you what else you have thought of, tried out and improved upon after building projects from our books.
Send us your own ideas! Email kara@lostartpress.com. You can read more about the submission process here.
Today’s pick, which pulls from “The Belligerent Finisher” by John Porritt, is from Christina Melton. Thanks, Christina!
— Kara Gebhart Uhl
I used a wire brush all over the chair to wear down the softer earlywood, to give it some texture.
Then a lot of burnishing with a deer antler and a smooth rock, especially near the hands and at the back of the head rest.
Then, a mix of BLO (boiled linseed oil) with some earth pigments, more like a wash than a paint, just to get a consistent deep color underneath.
Then I made a thick mix of Old Fashioned Milk Paint in Lexington Green, and globbed it on and wiped it off, mostly around sticks. The oil was dry, but I didn’t want it to cure because I wanted to be able to wipe some of the paint off.
John Porritt uses a heat gun to get the paint to peel, but I didn’t want to light mine on fire yet (with the layer of BLO underneath), so I just tried to let it dry a bit before rubbing it off. That helped it come off in patches.
Then I did the same with Real Milk Paint Co. Arabian Night on the top. I had to use a 3M pad with a little water in places where the paint needed to be blended better.
Then, I mixed a little burnt sienna pigment with BLO again on the top (like a wash), rubbed that in, then some Liberon Black Bison wax in dark oak.
— Christina Melton
Really well done! Thanks for sharing.