Have you had trouble with
your paint bleeding and looking for a solution to fix it?
I picked up a little mid century side table at the thrift store.
The plan was to spray it with a can of high gloss oil base white
paint, however this was also the perfect opportunity to show
how Annie Sloan Chalk Paint can create a perfect white finish
and share a couple of tricks I have to deal with paint bleed.
I am referring to the strange brownish red marks
that you might encounter while painting vintage furniture.
Your best defense to any problem is to understand
what and why it happens.
what and why it happens.
What it is are OILS (tannins) leaching into your
water based product and changing the color.
Why is because in these areas the wood are exposed
and raw letting the oils come out.
Solution is simple ... you need to block/seal
these areas locking in the oil.
FIRST SOLUTION
I wax and repaint.
Wax is a good barrier against the oils and Annie Sloan Chalk Paint adheres to wax!
SECOND SOLUTION
I spray spots with a flat oil based white.
Oil spray paint is a great barrier and easy to quickly treat spots. The flat finish also means quick drying and good adhesion for Annie Sloan Chalk Paint!
Primers, and shellacs can be used but in my experience purchasing more products is unnecessary, and I have encountered addition issues with some user's projects.
I know many people use Zinsser spray shellac, which I have only ever used to seal wood knots.
Not all woods bleed equally, pine for
example generally doesn't give you too much issue except for
the knots. I find oak pretty easy going but mahogany can be
just as bad as a red shirt being thrown into a wash load of
white underwear. Everything turns pink!
On this table the original finish had been scratched and
was starting to lift and flake off. Consequently once my first
coat of AS Pure White started to dry there were bleed spots all over.
*** OH THE HORROR!!! ***
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If you look closely on the above photo you can see the entire
face of the drawers had a streaky bleed. In the upper right
hand corner you can also see a heavier line of bleed where it
had been scratched.
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Here is another area with heavy bleed, the bottom of a leg
had been banged around and the original finish was
compromised exposing the raw wood in tiny spots.
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The same thing will happen if you sand an old finish and
expose the raw wood. When I am dealing with heavy bleed it
sometimes takes 2 or 3 applications of wax and paint before
it completely diminishes, but in the case of the drawer
faces it was one coat of wax and a second coat of paint.
NOTE:
TREAT THE PROBLEM AREAS ONLY!
and
LET YOUR WAX DRY (60 mins) BEFORE REPAINTING!
no buffing
You only have to treat the bleed you do not have to redo,
repaint, re wax every inch of your project.
For example I had bleed coming through at the 3 seams
where the angled trim attached to the top but the rest of
the surface was fine. I only waxed and repainted the seams.
*****
I hope this information helps you understand the problem
so you can also solve it.
Good Luck with your projects and your bleed!
