Tom McLaughlin’s Arts and Crafts Finish
Thin layers of dye, glazes, and sealers create an aged Arts and Crafts look.
Synopsis: An aged Arts and Crafts finish is a thing of true beauty, but you don’t have to wait for the passage of time to capture this kind of patina. You can come pretty close with thin layers of dye, glazes, and sealers, as Tom McLaughlin demonstrates.
It’s hard to overstate how well an Arts and Crafts finish ages on white oak. With time and use, the rich browns, soft ambers, and dark highlights are all deepened and warmed. But you don’t need the passage of decades to capture this patina. While it’s admittedly nearly impossible to re-create the honest effects of time on a finish, it is possible to come surprisingly close to the same beauty and complexity.
A traditional method is to fume the oak with ammonia, but this can be hazardous to your health and give uneven results. So I take a different…
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Comments
I tried this finish on some Morris chairs, and the Aniline dye faded within a year, leaving behind a muddy walnut stain. Is there any way to make this finish less light-sensitive?
Is there a dry time after applying the glazes prior to sealing with the blond shellac?
I love your work Tom, and you make this finish work. That's for sure. But this finishing schedule is ridiculous! It's basically Jeff Jewitt's recipe (which is extremely laborious already) but you added an extra glaze coat and 1-2 extra seal coat steps. Finish sanding an entire piece of furniture, then wetting it down just to sand it again... Arghhh! Then you still have to wax it? You're killing me man.
I've switched to a home brew of NGR dye. Basically you mix the dye (Transtint in my case) with a 50/50 mix of denatured alcohol and lacquer thinner. It doesn't raise the grain, so you can skip pre-raising the grain. Or better yet, I just use good 'ol oil based stain.
So to recap, you're killing me man.
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