This week I faced the first major setback of my project. The varnish I applied to the wood was too thick and not well mixed, I also had the super bright idea of drying it with a hair dryer which made everything 10 times worse. I then tried sanding the varnish off which damaged my structure and made parts of it too thin and therefore fragile. On top of this the varnish had stuck part of the box to the worktop which, when my friend and I tried to move it, broke due to the pressure and the strength of the varnish. Now I had a wasted two weeks and a broken structure to show for everything. I didn’t have time to work on something else so I used an old box I kept letters in to upcycle into a makeshift replacement. This time I was more patient with the varnish and applied it slowly and painstakingly.
I applied one thin coat and then continuously brushed it as it dried before applying the next coat. This entire process consumed the week. Aside from this I had other deadlines for other modules and so, in all honesty, couldn’t focus much more on this project. By the end of the week the box was completely varnished and ready to be wallpapered and all though I hadn’t made as much progress as I wanted to, I had learned from my attempted experimentation and I wasn’t as far behind in progress as I feared I’d be after the set back.
For that week I set everything aside to take a breather and focus on my other deadlines, I decided that next week I’ll work on furniture and wallpapering.
Here are a few images from my more successful attempts at varnishing:
As you can see the glossy effect was achieved with minor imperfections. Next I will probably remove the lid of the box before wallpapering it and varnishing the inside as well as working on the furnishings.