PART FIVE, KITCHEN CABINETS MADE FROM MAT BOARD

I'm making a hole in the shelf to match the one in my sink.  We'll make a drain in the finishing part.

I've used Delta's PermEnamel Country Tomato for the base coat on the counter top.  I've sanded the first coat.
*Note: Be careful sanding.  Your counter top has a thin middle at the back where the sink goes in.  This is very easy to bend.
Apply another coat of base paint.  I sand with 400 grit paper.  I will apply at least 3 base coats.

I've got the last coat on the counter top.  I've buffed it with a wadded piece of brown paper.

I'm back at the sink.  This is my third application of gesso.  I will probably apply one more coat to smooth things out.

Lets review the sink and gesso.

The first coat I applied with a spatula or a strip of mat board, smoothed out with a wet brush, mine was a camel hair #4.  Let dry over night.
You can sand this coat if you want to when it's dry.
My next coat was applied with a stiff flat brush.  I pushed gesso into the cracks.  Again, I used a soft wet brush to smooth everything out.  I am painting the front, too.  Let dry.

The third coat I put the gesso on a plate and used the flat brush to bring water to the gesso, mix it a bit.  The consistency should be like thick paint.  Use the flat brush to paint and fill.  Use the soft wet brush to smooth.

 I am adding water to the gesso and I am painting the gesso on the sink, inside and on the front.  Paint the sides and a little of the bottom.

You can also mix your paint with the gesso and paint that on, it works well, too.

I should be finished with the fourth coat.  I'll let that dry over night.
I'll paint a couple of coats of Delta's Magnolia White, it's not white white, but not ivory.  I'll apply a couple of coats, sanding the front of the sink to make it very smooth.  To finish I'll use Delta's Perm-Enamel Clear Gloss Glaze.  I like it because it dries hard.  I apply a couple of coats, sanding the front smooth between coats.
With that, your sink should be finished.

I've placed a large box on my table, (where did she find the room in that mess?).
You will need a palette, toothbrush, and stick, maybe a popcicle stick and four colors of paint.  At least, I used four colors.  I used the Tomato Red, black, grey and mixed a not quite ivory.

You will want to practice on a scrap before you go to the counter top.  You can always re-paint the counter top if you don't like it.

Dip your tooth brush into the paint and draw the stick toward you to spatter the paint.

Play with it.

I've done my not quite ivory.

I've changed the position of the counter top and spattered my black and grey.
I've spattered the red, too.  That's to fill in where the other colors may be too much.

You can go back and add spots with a tooth pick or small brush.

Don't over work it, this supposed to be random.  Leaving it random works out much better most of the time.

Lookin' good.


Let the paint dry and then apply at least 2 coats of Perm-Enamel Clear Gloss Glaze.

After the clear coats are dry, sand using 400 grit paper.  I wrapped my sand paper around a wood block for flat sanding.
Be careful at the edges, if you do sand off your base coat, touch up, let dry and apply another couple of coats of the Perm-Enamel Clear Gloss Glaze.

We are applying a lot of coats of varnish because we want the top to be smooth.  When the paint was spattered on it left the surface pebbly. To smooth that out so it looks like granite we have to apply the varnish a couple of coats at a time and sand until the top is smooth.
When you are satisfied with the surface let the last coat dry.
When the last coat is dry use #0000 steel wool to buff the surface.  Use wadded brown paper after that.  That should give the surface the right patina for granite.

*Note: Watch out for the steel wool debris.  Mine fell to my table top and into the brush I subsequently used to put what I thought was going to be my final coat of varnish on my sink.  "Where did all those tiny bits of stuff some from?"  More painting.