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[ Home: Decorative Arts: A Painted Poppy Cupboard ]
"A Painted Poppy Cupboard"
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Author: DuncanBerenice, Contributing Editor

My wife and I have painted many small pieces of furniture just for fun for family and friends over the last several years. We have found this to be an exciting, interesting hobby and would like to share the process we used for our most recent project," A Painted Poppy Cupboard " with the hopes that you too will follow along and enjoy painting furniture as well.
Materials and Equipment:
  • 2" Synthetic Brush
  • 1" Synthetic Brush
  • Size 2 Sable Brush
  • Size 6 Sable Brush
  • Natural Sponges
  • Graphite Transfer Paper
  • Pencil
  • Putty Rubber
  • Masking Tape
  • Vinyl Silk Emulsion
  • Artists' Acrylic Colour
  • Arte Deco Acrylics: white, black, medium blue, napthol red, raw sienna - or your choice of colours
  • Jo Sonja's Flow medium to be used with the acrylic colours
  • Acrylic Varnish Clear Matt
  • Acrylic Varnish Clear Satin
  • Sandpaper

  • and of course your project item
I made this cupboard (left) from 18mm MDF, it is 48" high, 14 1/2" wide and 16 1/2" deep.

The door frames are made from 45mm by 19mm dressed pine with 6mm MDF panels.

The screw holes and any other blemishes were filled with wood filler then sanded smooth.

The cupboard was given a rubbing all over with sandpaper, then hoovered (dusted) to take away any dust - a tacking cloth could've been used.

After dusting, the cupboard was given two coats of Brilliant White Vinyl Silk Emulsion. I would say that you should use a primer/undercoat to seal the wood and MDF before painting your project. 500ml of vinyl silk emulsion was mixed with 2 tablespoons of Ultramarine Artists' Acrylic colour.

The cupboard was then given a coat of this colour, the natural sponge was then soaked in water before I started to sponge off the blue paint to make some of the white emulsion show through.

I decided that I should leave the door frames the darker blue so as to show off the chosen design.

A mix of 500ml brilliant white vinyl silk emulsion and 1 tablespoon of Ultramarine Artists' Acrylic colour was sponged onto the cupboard, leaving a mix of two blues and white showing.

Once the emulsion was dry, two coats of Acrylic Clear Matt Varnish was painted over the cupboard.

Detail of sponge effects for this piece.

Sponge work can be quite fun.

Try taking your sponge and doing some practice exercises to get the feel of laying down the paint in a pattern you like before you put the paint on your real piece.

Mix your paint colour and pour a bit into a small cup or paper plate. Dab the sponge into the paint, but don't overload it. Blot the excess paint from your sponge and apply patches of color randomly, yet evenly over your piece. When you hold the sponge in your hand, remember to change the direction you pounce the sponge on to your piece so that the pattern will be different. Different size sponges can also help you get interesting patterns.

Also, remember you are working with wet paint. If you slide or twist your sponge slightly as you pounce, you will get a very different pattern than if you just pounce quickly and go on to the next area. Practice until you get the techinique you want.

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