This
week I am moving on to the finishing of the hutch kit, I know a lot
of people do say to do the painting first before construction but I
don't do it that way. That is why I am doing the video this way, it
is the way I have been doing these kits for many years and the way
that works best for me.
I
find several problems with painting first. Number one on my list is
that I try to always avoid gluing painted surfaces. I do have some
projects that I do paint before assembly and even on these I do some
of the gluing after painting but for the majority of the hutch I
really think gluing first is the way to go. I have had these plastic
cements react very badly with some paints.
Another
reason I like to paint after assembly is so that if I am trying to
show age on the piece (I didn't do this on this one but I do
sometimes) it is much easier to do that process with the project
glued together. In order to age things appropriately you need to be
able to “see” what caused the age. This is very hard with a bunch
of loose pieces.
Also
I always feel like the paint helps to disguise those seams and cover
some of the glue areas on the kits.
As
far as finishing these, I almost always use a good quality craft
paint. There are dozens of techniques to use and I show you one in
this video. If you know what effect you are after try to find a
painting method that will re-create it. I wanted an slightly aged
wood look so I base coated with a dark, rich brown (I used
Ceramcoat's Brown Velvet- my go to brown paint) for this dark base.
The next layer was a simple dry brush of a lighter, warmer brown (I
used Americana's Cocoa) the secret to dry brushing is to make sure
you have as little paint on the brush as possible. I then sealed it
all with a coat of clear sealer, I used Americana’s Multi-purpose
Sealer. The sealer has several functions. Of course it seals and
protects the paint but more importantly it takes away that dull,
almost dead matte finish that craft paint has. You never really know
how the color will look until you put on the sealer.
If
you want to practice your painting techniques use the back of the
hutch, perfect place to experiment. You can always paint over it if
need be.
I
did choose not finish either the back or top of the hutch. My real
one is totally bare unfinished wood in these places. I also didn't
get any paint into the area the drawer slides into or on the anything
but the face of the drawer and the flour bin. This way these will
still open and close just fine.
These
kits also work really nicely with a crackle paint finish and I will
try to cover that another time. Just have fun with whatever you
choose to do.
I think the drawer pulls and door handles were probably the hardest step of the entire kit. It literally took me 10 minutes to put on the little pulls on the fake drawers on the top of the hutch. These are the same little pulls that are used on the doors on the bottom of the hutch. Only problem there was I had dropped 2 of them. I was down on my hand and knees looking for them under my table when my youngest son came into to ask for some help with his school work (we homeschool) so before I could go back to being his teacher he had to join me under my table looking for those little tiny knobs. It took the two of us almost 10 minutes to find them. I was not about to walk away from the table before I found them either since his cat was there to “help” also. LOL
Since
I have always had problems with the little “glass” inserts in
these kits I used some of my scraps to test some of the various glues
I have to see just what would work the best in attaching that
particular plastic to the hutch. I found that my plain old super glue
(Loctite- professional liquid) worked the best. The biggest secret
here is to just use the minimum amount of glue you can. Just a few
drops on each side. You don't want any glue to seep out onto the
visible part of the plastic.
So
that is one way to finish one of these kits. Over the next few months
I will try to do the other kits and show you some other options.\
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