Sonja had fallen hard for my first Union Jack dresser
but only found it after it sold to someone else.
She later signed up for my workshop
and reminded me of her interest if I was to complete a similar piece.
Her patience has paid off as the second one has recently been completed,
and it's all hers.
This bow fronted chest was original purchased by my mother
in 1968 at a second hand shop for $4.
I honestly can't remember when she passed it on to me
but I can remember how she hated the drawers always getting stuck on her.
I gave it a fresh coat of white paint and added the appliques
many years ago but never did the fixes it needed.
So the first thing to do was get all the drawers running smoothly.
I removed the top so I could work inside easier and strip and stain it later.
One problem was the top drawer.
The bottom had separated and kept getting hung up half way open.
A second issues was all the drawer glides inside needed to be refit.
So I installed new ones made from some nice hard wood stolen from a parts dresser.
Now onto the task of getting the flag pattern marked out.
I've done 2 dressers, 4 chair seats, and a little something else all in the Union Jack
pattern and still never find it easy to get it perfect.
Patience is a prerequisite for this project.
I used red chalk paint
(which I do not recommend using)
and navy craft paint
When I tried to distress the face the fine dust of the red chalk paint would stain
the neighboring white paint.
When I tried to wax the red chalk paint it would also stain the white.
The craft paint doesn't do this.
So after fussing and trying to fix the white I re taped the flag
and took it outside and sprayed the white to get a fresh crisp look again.
The original round posts that stopped the drawers from pushing too far inside had
worn large gouges in the wood at the bottom edge of each drawer.
So before taking her outside I fixed the stops so all the drawers would sit
flush with each other making the second taping a bit easier.
The final step was to get the top looking rich and feeling luscious to the touch.
I stripped it with acetone and stained it with Kona stain
Then took a few days to lay on several coats of poly.
Here she is in all her glory!
NOW IT's YOUR TURN TO TRY ONE CARRIE!
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