I know what you are thinking. Why would I write about this? Why would you want to read about this? Well it is what I have been doing for the last couple of weeks and I am totally done with the project.

It started for me when I spotted a poster to hang up at the library. I am the poster person at the library. No poster is put up without my approval. Many a time has happened when a poster is placed quickly on the bulletin board by using some other poster’s library approved push pins. There is also the occasional rummage sale sign tacked up with staples! The horror!

But anyway, there is a poster about a local event to raise money for scholarships in the area. People or artists need to decorate a plain chair and donate it to this auction and then they will be displayed at the Rahr-West Art Museum in Manitowoc. A very neat idea and if you like that kind of art or just want to be inspired from it, come on over to Manitowoc around November 1st. But check the date for sure.

I asked my sister to see if she had an old chair I could use. Sometimes a chair can be found in the garbage or wherever and Jerry, her husband, may pick it up as that is part of his job. Anyway, she did have a chair and it was similar to a Captain’s Chair. It was shiny, with polyurethane and shellack and it had a few drips of paint on it already. Debbie was using it as a paint chair.

Now in the old days, I would have spent weeks getting that stain off the chair. Acrylic paint will not stay on a oil-stained surface. In high school I did the same project and used a heat gun to scrap off the used paint. It is messy and dangerous and did I mention messy and dangerous? To give a 16 year old a gun that shoots heat waves onto a wooden chair is not a great idea much less a WHOLE classroom of teenagers that have to do the same thing. But that was how you got paint off of stuff back them without chipping of grinding off old toxic paints into the atmosphere.

But here we are in a new era. There is a product out on the market that you paint directly onto any surface, and it makes a very good surface sealer. I am not so sure of the product’s name but it is called something to the effect 1-2-3. You paint it, you let it dry, you can paint another coat, and then you are ready for the main business of creating a painted chair. A lot safer and easier then holding onto a flamethrower and a chisel at the same time.

Now this paint is stinky and will get onto anything. It is water soluble and can clean up in a sink. But always wear old clothes. No matter what you paint, even if it is water soluble, paint can stain and discolor things you don’t want to stain or discolor intentionally.

After the second coat was applied I was narrowing down the choices of the theme I wanted to create for the chair. I kept thinking penguins but then I would have to glue a penguin on the chair or more of them and who wants that in their study? Plus the penguins take up precious sitting area, so that idea kind of fell flat.

I finally asked my dad if he had an idea as we were watching football on Sunday afternoon. A commercial came on about island resorts and my dad said “How about Hawaii?” How about Hawaii…yeah it just might work out.

You see, it is a straight sit down chair without arms. The legs and the crossbeams could be an ocean or coral reef. The seat area is the beach or island and the back with it’s spindles could be palm trees. The top of the chair are the branches in the sky. All items are painted and in detail. Plus it will make my mom happy that I added flowers as that was her idea.

I began designing it and looking up palm trees and thinking that a TiKi statue might make it more Hawaiian looked up as many photos as I could google. It took about 4 weeks to complete, but I am happy with the final product. I even added a few beachcombers and tanners and a very attractive blond in a bikini walking near the surf.

I finished the final seal of the protective coat today and added some felt pads onto the bottom and it is all set for the BIG Show. Hopefully I can find a way to put a picture of it on the website or the blog for all to see.

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