Lessons Learned
I have been able to examine the final product from last night's furniture refinishing project. I give it a 7.
Some issues:
- I left it sitting a long time. I had decoupaged images on the table top of movie stars (classic stars, not today's bozos) in a random, over lapping pattern. By the time I got to this final step, the glue had apparently given out a bit. A couple of the corners lifted into (and out of) the epoxy.
- I bought the epoxy I was using to seal it a long time ago. I should have been completely clear but has a slight amber cast to it, perhaps as a result of age?
- I waited until it was too dark in my garage. There is lighting in there, but apparently not enough for me to see all that I needed to, for instance the bubbles in the top coat. They are tiny, and there aren't many, but I can see them now and it bugs me.
- I chose the wrong supports. You have to raise your project off of the ground to keep it out if the epoxy that drips off the edges. I could easily have picked up some blocks or something at the dollar store (or whatever) but I thought the plastic cups I had would work. They didn't. Unfortunately, they broke after I had poured the epoxy all over the top and it was in the self-leveling stage. One broke and as I tried to salvage it, another broke - I got a bunch of epoxy over one edge where I definitely didn't want it. The feet did get stuck in pools of epoxy, but I was able to break them out.
- The clear sealer I had sprayed over the pictures originally (they were photocopies so I wanted to be sure) may not have been thick enough. Where the overlapping images looked just fine before the epoxy, the chemicals apparently caused the paper to become a bit transparent. Now some of the images are showing through so you have, for instance, Shirley MacLaine's feet in Danny Kay's living room window.
Overall, though, I am happy with it. I am not sure I am going to have a Hollywood room, anymore, but I am glad I finally finished this project.
Posted by Vox at September 24, 2006 03:07 PM
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