General Finishes

I will love you and sand you and paint you and call you all mine! Joking aside, I found her at a thrift store just sitting there with a bunch of toys tossed on top of her! I felt like it was meant to be and that I could bring her back to life again. She's exra special to me because I was only going out of town to donate some special handmade jewerly that a dear family member made. She had passed from cancer and she donated to a good cause through this particular thrift organization. It was my first time stepping into this cute little shop and I saw this gorgeous treasure from acrossed the room. You know how these little gems speak to you{( I just do what the voices tell me) and they all have a signifigance about them, each one having meaning or a story. I could go on and on about the magic that moves me! Sometimes, I wish my new hobby was painting cheap stuff instead of the good solid vintage! It definately keeps food on the table for my chiropractor! So anyways, to get back to my story. I took her home and I didn't even have to buy her a movie or dinner! Unfortunaly, the kids at the thrift store roughed her up a bit so I was introduced to bondo for the first time! After countless hours of sanding and wood filler, I began to finally paint her. I used General Finishes in Patina Green on the shell which had good bones! I just learned that term recently! She needed a few coats of Patina Green milk paint. Also, I painted the huge mirror with Patina green and Java Gel on the bottom pieces that hold it on! I sanded down the drawers to 150 grit and stained with Java Gel by General Finishes, i used 2 coats allowing 48 hours in between. I removed the vaneer edging along the top and stained with Java as well. The very top was stripped with Jasco and sanded down to bare wood. I used a very light layer of the Java Gel and sanded lighly. I then applied Shellac diluted with Denatured alcohol. I did more coats of Shellac with light sanding of 220 grit in between each coat. I probably ended up with 5 coats of shellac alone! The wood was a bit rough on top so I decided to use steel wool in 0000 and Miniwax, followed by a lot of buffing in between! Finally, I decided ( after many trial n errors) to paint the hardware with GF Patina Green and gold spray paint. I love how the GF works on hardware, it has a very nice smooth finish. Another first for me, stepping outside of my comfort zone! Well she was finally finished almost 2 months later and I named her after my dear Sheilah who lost her batlle with cancer. Sure wished she could see how awesome this turned out!