Too new - antiquing help please

[tim]

I've just finished making and installing this TV cabinet:

for more pics
https://www.ukworkshop.co.uk/forums/viewtopic.php?p=111918#111918

The clients are delighted with it but feel it looks too new :roll: and want to soften the look of it.

I know that I could rub down the corners etc but wonder if there is also anything that could be applied to give it a little age.

Any help would be great.

Cheers

Tim

 

[Chris Knight]

Tim,
I went on a finishing course with Bruce Luckhurst where we briefly covered distressing but it was with respect to non-painted surfaces. However, I guess a few of the techniques and principles apply.

First off is that in Bruce's opinion, distressing is too often badly done and dead giveaways are that applied marks etc do not correspond with real life usage patterns such as the accumulated dirt (patina in the jargon!) that corresponds with the curved sweeping patterns of the a housemaid's duster, the scuffs from keys around escutcheons, use of vacuum and the like.

Fly specks can be applied here and there with an extremely fine artists brush using an acrylic artists paint and a Badger softener - how this would look on such a big white painted surface I don't know - need to look at others in the house I guess. I suppose some general yellowing is to be expected but I am not sure how one might apply this to such a large area.

I reckon you could do worse than consult the painters used by that company mentioned here that produced exclsuively MDF furniture but then painted it so well it could look like anything - I'll try and find the link.

 

[Chris Knight]

It was these folk http://www.thistlejoinery.co.uk/html/woodpainting.html

Also Colin might well have some ideas.

 

[norman]

Hi

Make a few and I mean only a few marks to imply wear etc. then a wash with vandyke thinned to the tone that you think looks right . should kill that new look. if you get it wrong it can be washed off again with water untill it`s what you want.
Norman

 

[tim]

Thanks guys - I'll summon up my cheeky persona and give Thistle a call.

Norman - will that work on a painted surface? I'm assuming it will give it a tobacco stained effect - depending on strength etc. Is that correct.

I may bottle out of this and get them to get someone else in to have a go - bearing in mind the hand blocked wallpaper, persian carpets, louis quinze furniture etc, etc :shock: :roll: :roll:

Cheers

Tim

 

[Anonymous]

Tim

I think I would go with your worries and get someone else in. My suspicion is that to do a good job takes conisderable skill, practice and talent - the very reasons I couldn't do it

Maybe a few experiments on offcuts might provide insight into just how dfficult it is.

By the way, in a New Yankee Workshop episode where he made a Windsor chair, the company he visited distressed their own products to look like antiques and they showed every stage of the process in detail. I think it was a two-part program

 

[Colin C]

Hi Tim
I would to get some one else to do it if I was you because it takes some one knows what they are doing to make it look right ( I am not knocking you as we can all see your work is first class =D> ).
If it was polished I might be able to point you in the right direction but as it is paint :? , that takes some one that does it all the time to do it right
I hpe that helps

 

[tim]

Thanks guys

I think that those of you shouting 'Run away' are offering sound advice. I have suggested that we change the knobs to an older finish. I also think that reading between the lines, that they haven't got to grips with the size of it and I think that they should live with it for a bit before making any changes.

There was a comment that it slightly takes away from the antique fireplace although the fluting etc was a request of the client to match it. I'm not going to point this out, nor the fact that the fireplace came from a local reclaim yard very recently and is painted in exactly the same paint as my cabinet.

In fairness to them though, they aren't quibbling the quality of my work. This sort of thing is not that unusual, bearing in mind that most of my work comes from wealthy folk with very specific requirements.

Cheers

Tim

 

[norman]

Hi Tim

works on most surfaces. adds a slight amount of "dirt" depending how strong the mix is. when dry does require some sort of fixing. furniture spray polish may do the job for light handling.
Norman

P.S. If you have the chance to walk away DO!!

 

[engineer one]

tim, i'm no expert as we all know, but i wonder whether you are
looking at this in the wrong light.

first make sure the client agrees to live with the unit for at least 3 months,
because it is quite big, and i think part of the thing is "imposition"
by that i mean this new big thing is diverting the attention in the
room toward it, and away from the fireplace for instance.

it looks a really neat piece of furniture, but anything new and imposing
diverts you.

then when you go back, i wonder whether the thing to do is just rub
the paint in the areas that you will by then see are worn, you will
notice the paint chips, and the bits where someone has rubbed against
it, or where the drawers move and become a little less than pristine.

at that point you could then consider a version of lime wax, or
a slightly tinted wax polish which you rub on certain areas.

anyway that's my zimbabewean dollars worth :lol: :lol:

paul :wink:

 

[tim]

I have to admit that I feel no responsibility to the client on this. The brief was well answered and well executed and I think as Paul notes that they have just found it bigger than they expected. I drew it in SU and included human figures so they could see the scale and I also made them a cardboard template of the footprint and put it in the room.

I think this is a case of a client not knowing their own mind - not the role of a furnituremaker to contest.

Cheers

Tim

 

[engineer one]

tim, another practical solution i think.

at a later date, how about a thinned down wash of the next darker
colour in the range, that is rubbed of almost immediately you put it on.

in principal this is the main technique of weathering, because in the
odd corners you will get a slight build up which will change the
colour impression.

paul :wink: