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I met with a customer today who wants a bookcase built to match coffee and end tables in her living room. These are Italian style tables. I have the design sketched out OK, but the finish is the type seen on a lot of Italian furniture: tiny black specks spattered randomly on the surface. I assume the procedure is to apply the spatter by shaking darker stain onto the prestained surface, from the bristles of a brush, then applying the finish. Can anyone help me with the exact procedure: what, exactly, are the black “freckles” made of, and are they applied by just flicking them on with a brush? I’ve checked my George Frank and Bob Flexner books, no info there.
Also, what species of wood is most Italian furniture made from? My customer will accept maple, but the tables I am trying to match are a species I don’t recognize and have never worked with. Grain looks similar to pecan.
Thanks for any help. GP
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The product of choice would be something like Behlen's Shading and Glazing stain, or the equivalent from Mohawk, Star, or Lily. Other manufacturers make similar products, but I don't know them.
These glazes are made to go between coats of sealer and/or topcoat in lacquer finishing systems. I don't know of any equivalent product for water or oil based systems.
In production finishing, they are applied with dedicated spatter guns, but in a small shop, there are two ways I use:
For small jobs, I use a toothbrush or a smallish paint brush with the bristles cut short. Pour some glaze in a shallow dish, dab the bristles of the brush into it, then, holding the bristles up, pull your finger or a stick along the bristles so as to flick droplets of glaze onto your work. A light touch works well, here. Practice one some cardboard or paper so that you can get the right size droplets -- at first, they'll be too large, but you will soon get the hang of it.
If you have a lot to do, you can get a pretty good spatter from a pressure feed spray gun. Set the fluid pressure so the glaze just barely dribbles out, then keep turning the air pressure down until the gun gives you the spatter you want. In my experience, you end up using very low air pressures where even a pound or two difference makes a big difference in the pattern.
I match a lot of factory finishes, and that's how I do it. I'd sure be intersted in anybody else's methods.
Michael R
*Michael, I recontacted the customer today; we are going to go with just trying to match the stain, without the splatter effect. When I get a chance, though, I am going to experiment with your brush and shallow dish technique, using the glazing stain. Also got an E mail from Diane describing technique using brush and dowel, flicking the spatter off with a nail attached to the dowel. Thanks to both of you for the info. GPW
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