General Finishes

 Wardrobe arrived badly damaged, more than expected. It had plenty cracks, and scratches. It required massive amount of work including filing the deep cracks and sanding. Priming the wardrobe for next steps took a significant amount of time. Finally I could start with varnishing and styling. I knew form the start I wanted it in red, while the top will be checkered, but in a subtle way. I was always fascinated by contrast in art, so I decided to combine red with black and gold. The base colour I chose was Tuscan Red GF. It seemed too dark, so I've added a small amount of Holiday Red GF. I've enriched the cupboards with a template of a checkerboard. Once I've painted the whole thing, I covered the drawers in bitumen mixed with a black Prima Artisan Powder, to darken their sides. After laying a mixture of rabbit-skin glue, chalk, and water on the decors, I've gilded them with gold foil laid onto a bole pigment. I've covered the top in it's entriety in gold foil, drew out the checkerboard and patinated it, this time in patine made from the base paint and bitumen. I gave it a hard wipe, to let it blend into the background. Last thing left to do was to mark fragments of the furniture with a golden shine. I managed this using the gilding paste Treasure and polished the rest, to protect the dresser from damage. I chose  matt varnish.