No More Felt

Hi All,
In my last post I showed you the little trinket box that I'd attacked with my pyrography iron. Here is a photo of it again so that you will be able to see what I'm talking about.

Once the pyrography work was done it still needed to be finished off and I can report that I had one success and one disappointment.

The disappointment came from the fact that I decided to save money and buy a cheaper varnish. They say that you get what you pay for and, in this instance at least, they are right. I usually buy Ronseal quick drying gloss varnish and it is very good with exception of the hole it makes in my pocket money. A small tin is in my mind quite expensive. Anyway, being the old miser that I am, while I was in the DIY superstore looking at the varnishes on offer I decided I would try their own brand because it was a couple of quid cheaper. It was a big mistake because after three coats the trinket pot still hadn't got any shine, plus I had to wait longer for each coat to dry. In the future I will stump up the cash and stick to Ronseal, that is unless anybody can recommend a good cheap varnish.

One of these days I'm going to knock the varnish on the head and polish all my projects with proper polish and I will keep you all posted when I try it out.

The success I had when finishing the box came from my felt substitute. Up until now, I have, or should I say my wife has used sticky back felt on the bottom of my boxes and the underside of the lids. I did do a couple of boxes myself but found the process of cutting out the felt and sticking it on very tedious and despite taking care it never looked great.

Happily, my days of felting are now well and truly over because I've discovered the art of flocking. Here it is on the bottom of the box and the lid. I also used it on the inside and compared with felt it was so simple to do.

Apparently, flocking has been about for years. Petrol heads use it to coat the dashboards of their cars and some female fashion trendsetters have their nails flocked.
The process is simple; an adhesive is brushed onto the area to be flocked and then small particles of material are blown onto the glue with a special applicator.

I purchased a starter set, which included the instructions, adhesive, the material and the applicator from a company called Turners Retreat who have a website of the same name. It cost me £20 but it will go a long way and if I never have to see a piece of felt again it will be well worth it.

In my next post, I will show you how I'm getting on with the box I'm making and I'll let you know how my new oscillating bobbin sander performs.