Sunday, December 7, 2014

To wax or not to wax? I didn't even know it was a question!

They said: "Apply a thin coat of wax over the chalk paint and wipe off excess. Repeat. Apply dark wax." And I did. Over and over, I did. Without questioning, I rubbed on that wax and buffed it to a glorious sheen and spent an hour or more catching my breath and rubbing my arms. whew.

Then came this nightstand and not a stitch of wax was applied. Why not?


Because of my red low-boy dresser with it's dull wax and repeated repaintings, that's why.


The nightmare is chronicled here. I finally took all the wax off with mineral spirits and used poly. After repainting again, of course.

Perfect.

I had been using wipe-on poly and other top coats every so often but I was always afraid the chalk paint might turn dull or rub off. Or that the Chalk-Paint-Police would come git me!

Another no-wax project.

And another.

And another. On and on.

Then I purchased Altard's latest e-book on technique and imagine my surprise to find that this power-house of furniture painting has completely stopped using wax due to the same reasons I was using it less.

Well then. To wax or not to wax? If you have humidity or hot weather I'd be thinking twice. The waxed furniture I took to an outdoor show last summer, including my chippy table below, came home dull. I had to redo those pieces and I wasn't happy. No, not at all.


But that's just me.

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5 comments:

  1. Don't follow rules be a rebel. Love your posts!

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    1. Oh don't worry! I am a rebel. Otherwise I'd still be waxing! LOL

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  2. I work for a very high end furniture redo-er and she says wax is the worst thing you can put on a piece of furniture. I use it very sparingly! Water based poly is my best friend!

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    1. When chalk paint swept America the only accepted top coat was wax. It takes a while to have that "aha" moment and realize other options are so much better.
      I'll still use wax on primitives or pieces that will be distressed heavily, but the gel top coats are my new best friends!

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  3. Amazing blog and very interesting stuff you got here! I definitely learned a lot from reading through some of your earlier posts as well and decided to drop a comment on this one!

    ReplyDelete