Hello everyone!
I’m planning on painting an old, very ornate teak bed we got a couple of years ago. I’m trying to get the look in the attached pictures, and was wondering what paint/technique you’d all recommend to achieve that look? Our bed has very similar, ornate carvings with lots of holes and such.
Replies
That bed in the photo appears to me to have once been painted and has then since been stripped. Looks Thai or possibly Vietnamese which would make me think that the color originally would have leaned heavily towards gold as the primary color with possible details in other colors ..
Teak is very naturally oily and I would think therefore prone to bleeding.
Your looking for a washed effect or are you intending to actually paint in solid opaque colors?
I would stay away from water based paints and instead use oil based paint or possibly shellac. If I was attempting a white washed effect over teak I think I would try a thinned down pigmented white shellac- wiped on and then quickly wiped off.
If I was painting solid colors I would first prime with a good oil based primer or white shellac...actually I would probably do both and in multiple coats as a precaution. Bleed through is a bitch and often doesn't appear for days or even months. If you get a good base coat and particularly over shellac you can then top coat with pretty much anything.
Thanks for the reply! I am going for the washed effect. I found last night that they call it the Jati wash, and basically they paint on with white, and then use water and sandpaper to take it off, so basically like you're saying, painted and stripped. However, you're saying teak is oily, so a water based paint wouldn't work as well? I'm fairly new to refinishing also, could you explain to me what bleeding means when it comes to these projects? And with the shellac, that would be no base coat, just wipe on, wipe off, and then seal with something clear when the desired effect is achieved?
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My main reference book on finishes refers to this look as Weathered Finish, the process uses successives coats of milk paint of different colors that are brushed when dry to show the underlying coats. If your intention is to show the natural teak color, then a white paint only would be necessary, the General Finishes products page also shows some milk paints examples of such look. A final wax finish is then applied.
This makes sense! I was thinking of using milk paint. Do I need to worry about the oil in the teak with milk paint?
Real Teak will take any finish well, but for film finishes such as varnish or paint it is recommended to wipe the bare wood with acetone or alcool just prior to coating.