Instructions for 3D Wicker Furniture Finishing (You will get a copy of these instructions with your order including the photos)
Support
Removal:
Tools
required – Small Flush Cutter (in a
pinch a wire cutter or cuticle nipper may do, but you won’t get as smooth of a
finish where the supports were attached), Emery Board, Small Files or emery
board sliced into thin strips.
1.
Begin with the
piece of furniture that looks the easiest to work with.
2.
Always start the
support removal at the TOP of the piece of furniture and with the OUTER
supports. – SEE PHOTO 1
3.
Gently cut the
attachment point with the flat side of the flush cutter positioned against the
piece of furniture.
4.
Sever the
attachments that you can reach EASILY then remove the rest of the support
STEMS of those attachments so that you can reach any attachment points that
are hidden BEHIND or BELOW the outer supports that you just removed. – SEE
PHOTO 2
5.
Once you have the
perimeter supports detached, cut away THEIR support stems as close to the raft
(base) as possible so that you can reach the supports that are attached to the
Legs and to the underside of the furniture piece.
6.
Sever the
supports where they are attached to the bottom of the legs.
7.
Try a gentle
twisting motion at this point to see if the piece will come off of the
raft. If not, Cut through the STEMS of
the supports that are underneath the piece. Once it is free from the “raft”, cut the
underneath supports where they are attached to the furniture. – SEE PHOTO 3
Smoothing
Attachment Points:
1.
Use a fine emery
board to even up the bottom of the feet – try to support the leg against your
finger while you are sanding.
2.
Use your flush
cutter to try and snip off any lumps a little closer to the piece (now that all
the supports are out of the way).
3. For the final smoothing, I use a set of Micro Needle Files that I purchased from Amazon. If you don’t have any small files (or even a set of “bead reamers”) then use an emery board that has been cut into thin strips or some other kind of small sanding tool. If you have nothing else, you can GENTLY scrape the lumps with an Exacto knife while supporting the area that you are scraping as much as possible. Warning, the Exacto method has been the biggest cause of breakage for me. – SEE PHOTO 4
Painting:
1.
Carefully wash
pieces in warm soapy water. Dry
thoroughly.
2.
As with real life
size wicker pieces, whenever possible, SPRAY PAINT is your best way to go.
3. Choose a light base coat and apply 1 or 2 light coats of spray paint (I like Rustoleum brand) or acrylic paint.
You can either leave your wicker as-is with just the
base coat, or you can apply a “wash” to bring out more of the details.
4.
Let base coat dry
then apply a light coat of satin sealer or varnish. Let varnish dry several
hours.
5.
Make a “wash” (the
consistency of milk) with a slightly darker shade of acrylic paint.
6. Paint on the wash, wipe your brush on a paper towel, then brush the piece again to remove the excess wash paint, leaving the darker color in the crevices. You can repeat this step as much as you like until you get the result you want.
7.
Apply a coat of
sealer or varnish (your choice of finish) to protect the paint.
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