Painting the Gragg Chair
With the sanding putty smoothed I concocted the top coat of paint and applied three coats of it. The base for this paint was 2 parts Zinsser oil-based primer and one part gloss Pratt and Lambert 38 varnish, tinted with yellow ochre powder pigments to match the color I wanted. The remaining historic Gragg chairs have a range of base coloration somewhere in the same zip code, and it is pretty much the chromatic neighborhood where my chairs will reside as long as I make them.
The combination of flat primer and gloss varnish yielded a nice satin surface, smooth enough for further work but with just enough tooth to hold the pinstriping and peacock feather decoration yet to come.
Stay tuned.
Had a chance to see a Gragg “in the flesh” this weekend at Milwaukee Art Museum. Pretty amazing looking chair.
Wow. I didn’t realize that Pratt and Lambert was still in business.