Based on a famous piece at the Shaker Museum in Chatham, NY. The original is huge, with two banks of five drawers and a cupboard. This was for an apartment in Brooklyn, hence one bank of drawers instead of two. Drawer heights are graduated by percentage. The back is frame-and-panel. The top is quartersawn tiger maple, dyed and finished with hand-rubbed tung oil/linseed/varnish. The rest is milk-painted poplar. I was hoping for a dark blue, so it’s finished with an acrylic topcoat that usually darkens the milk paint’s color. This time that didn’t happen. The result isn’t what I was shooting for, but it has a textured character that in some ways may be more interesting. Milk paint can have a mind of its own.
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Chuck I like it. I have always liked the color I know as "soldier blue" on small things. I like the contrast of painted areas and natural wood side by side. The nice figured maple is eye catching. In the future, if you are looking for a darker look, you can cut the brightness by adding black milk paint powder to the mix or you can layer. Curtis Buchanan(windsor chair maker) paints some his chairs with a base coat of red then thins out black milk paint cut 2:1 so you can see the red behind the black. When you put oil/varnish/shellac over it, the colors change again. I have used this method with good results.
Hi Dan,
Thanks for your note and, yes, I've darkened milk paint with black before. An example is the Shaker side table I posted April 9. For this dresser, though, I had previously achieved the exact look I wanted with straight color plus acrylic Clear Coat, so in making tests I was kind of thrown when that didn't happen. I then made tests with a couple kinds of oil which made the blue way darker than I wanted. While this was going on I started liking the lighter blue. The people I was making the dresser for liked it, so I went ahead. They're happy, so I'm happy. Another adventure with milk paint.
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