Learn How To Paint Over Mother of Pearl Furniture

11 Materials
$100
4 Hours
Medium
The Mother of Pearl on this piece was badly damaged from time and neglect. It was discolored and broken. Many of the tiny pieces were missing from the design and the only option was to paint over it.
Learn how Do Dodson Designs tackled this project!
Here’s the scary part… painting over the mother of pearl furniture inlay. I said it was scary because I can only imagine the time, dedication and skill of the artisan that created this piece. But I knew that the mother of pearl was no longer beautiful. So my attempt to make this chest beautiful again was not taken vain.
Because the surface was slick, I used a product called Slick Stick by the Dixie Belle Paint. All it took was one coat of the slick stick to create the bond so that my paint adhered properly. 
My base color of paint was Hurricane Gray chalk mineral paint. One coat was all I needed to quickly paint over the lower part of the chest. I blended a second color over the mother of pearl furniture inlay with Driftwood. 
After the paint had dried, I used a 1 inch putty knife to add highlights to the mother of pearl furniture inlay. After a short dry time, I applied this amazing paint called IRON Paint over the mother of pearl. The paint was applied with the putty knife as well and in the same fashion. I didn’t want a perfect look and this was exactly what I wanted. While the Iron paint was still wet, I sprayed the Green Patina Spray activator over all the pieces with iron paint. Be sure to use the activator when the paint is wet or it will not activate.
In about 4 hours I had the most rusty, crusty beautiful look that made me smile. I wasn’t sure during this whole process how I would feel about covering up the mother of pearl, but the design was intact and visible.
Suggested materials:
  • Dixie Belle Paint   (https://dixiebellepaint.com/paint/)
  • White Lightning   (https://dixiebellepaint.com/white-lightning-cleaner-8oz/)
  • Slick Stick   (https://dixiebellepaint.com/slick-stick-new-sizes/)
See all materials
Dixie Belle Paint Company
Want more details about this and other DIY projects? Check out my blog post!
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