The process of the Bentwood rocker

By: Unknown on 11:43 AM

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I know that my last post was quite long and a lot to take in, so I wanted to break it down a bit. I wanted to let you know what I did to redo the rocker. 

BEFORE

I first painted it using ASCP Old White. I hand painted 2 coats of paint, which was no small task in itself. I would normally spray it, but I just wanted to cover the fabric, so I didn't want to get paint on it. After I sanded it, it was very distressed (which I LOVED) but I was afraid that it would be to much for my cousin. And of course I couldn't call and ask her! So I added some water to the paint to make it more of a wash and added one more coat. It went on super smooth and it didn't take much sanding for this coat. I don't have clear wax and I didn't want to put poly on it, so I left it unwaxed and no top coat. I did distress it and I know that even with natural distressing over time, it will still look great. I personally love the texture and the matte finish of the chalk paint without a top coat. 

I originally was going to make the rocker all white because the room is already so pink.....just to remind you

You can see the process here
and here

I started off using white duck cloth, and had a vision of the lyrics "Somewhere over the rainbow" on the back of the chair. I had read somewhere (I can't remember where) how to do a transfer using Gel Medium and though that would be good for this. So I typed the lyrics (mirror image) and took it to Kinko's where they blew it up and printed it with a laser printer. I had intended on doing a tutorial for this because I thought it was going to be awesome. I took pictures of the process and my excitement ended when I saw the outcome. What you would do is paint the gel medium on the fabric, lay down the paper and smooth it out, let it dry, and with a wet towel "rub" off the paper, and the words are supposed to stay! Sounds easy right? Well the words didn't all adhere, and the gel feels a little like vinyl when its dry. But since I started I followed through.

I hand painted over the entire thing and as you can see where the words are a bit thicker, that's where the words were missing. The texture also wasn't smooth in those places so I couldn't make it perfect (which made me crazy). But by now I had put so much time into it, it was going to be imperfect with love :-). The stool was much easier because although I still had the same issues, it was much easier to paint just 3 letters that were bigger.

I used acrylic paint to paint the letters and using the gel medium, I put a thin coat over the name. It dries clear with a matte finish.

After I stapled the fabric on the seat, it just looked unfinished and impractical so I went with hot pink duck cloth. It looked so clean and new and I new I would be redoing the back. I didn't want to go through the whole song again so I just went with Ava again. Here is where I ran into some troubles. The gel dries clear on the white, but on the pink it wasn't 100% transparent. So to make it work, I used white acrylic paint and mixed it with the gel and painted the background. I wanted it to look like it was painted (like on canvas) so I made sure to add lots of texture. I did the same thing in black for the name. On the stool it is completely smooth, but I love the added texture on the back.

I think it really makes it feel much more "hand made". Then using a glue gun, attached the ribbon.

On the very back of the rocker there was a brown, cotton like fabric. I didn't want to remove it or cover it because I would have had to take it apart, so I dry brushed the Old White on in sort of a messy manner (on purpose) And hand painted some inspirational words.

I trimmed it all with a ruffled satin ribbon that I found at Joanns. It's about $3 a yard and I used about 7 yards, so do forget your coupon!

As for this transfer technique on this project....it is definitely a technique I would say NOT to use! It would be great to make a diy canvas! You can use any image as long as it's printed with a laser printer. Just remember, if there is text on the image, mirror image the words. You could do it on fabric or on a real canvas. It would be great for a family portrait and the print cost less then a dollar because you use regular paper!

The chair is so girly now and I am so happy with how it turned out! I would love to hear what you think!

If your new here I would love for you to stay and follow my journey!

I am entering this into the American Crafter Season 4 auditions! This is my first time entering this contest....so fingers crossed! The prizes are amazing!

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