It’s 2022 and this is my FIRST time painting with Fusion paint! I have painted with mineral paint before, but not Fusion mineral paint!
I met my friend Dayna at a Mastermind in Kansas City, Missouri. We had came to the event not knowing anyone and ended up sitting at the same table. All of us at the table instantly began networking! My business as since evolved from predominately a brick and mortar to online sales. I went from constantly painting and fixing furniture to working with small things that were easy to ship!
All that to be said that I rarely get to paint furniture anymore! I had a couple pieces still in the shop that were just not moving and I wanted to give them a makeover. Having never used Fusion mineral paint, I wanted to give it a try! That led to this collaboration! I reached out to Dayna of Honeycomb Creative and Co. and asked her to ship me some paint and offer all of you a discount!
Use Code: junkfriends10
Get your Fusion mineral paint from Dayna at Honeycomb Creative and Co. for 10% off. Use code: junkfriends10
This post may contain affiliate links for the products I use and recommend. I am not paid to promote these products. If you purchase using my affiliate links, I could make a small commission at no charge to you.
Picking a Paint Color
Once the paint she gifted me arrived I asked for your help on picking a paint color to use! What do you think was the color picked? Go comment and tell me your guess!
I’ll tell you it was SO CLOSE! And I did use the color that was voted for! The off-white color is called Champlain. The other option was Homestead Blue.
Let’s Get Started
Painting
If you’ve been around awhile then you know that I am not a professional DIY’er! I have the mentality, that I can make anything work and it’ll be good enough. So it should come as no surprise to you that I get all ready to paint and THEN read the back of the jar to discover that you are supposed to use some cleaning product the Fusion makes, oops! I did not have that nor did I want to wait to get some shipped to me!
So, I messaged Dayna really quick and asked for her thoughts. In the meantime I just decided to risk it! I would be distressing it anyway, so what could be the worst that happens!
Luckily I actually read the back of the paint jar because the directions were to wet sand. That is very good to know and kind of important to know if you want something distressed! Luckily I knew what wet sanding was and had actually made a video doing it! Watch this and you will see how far I’ve come, at least I hope I’m better at my videos 4 years later!
2018 Wet Sanding Facebook Video
So even though I didn’t clean the piece like recommended I went ahead and started painting. Turns out Dayna had messaged me back and had recommended just cleaning the piece with a degreaser like Simple Green, Krud Cutter or even a tiny bit of Dawn and warm water! I will remember that for the next piece!
The paint seemed to stick just fine without sanding or cleaning. When you’ve painted a few pieces, I think you can kind of tell once you put the paint brush to the piece if it’s going to adhere or not.
Wet Sanding
My Technique
After I painted the entire piece I grabbed a rag to do the wet sanding. Because I was recording my work, it took a bit longer than I think it would have had I not been filming, so by the time I got to some of the sections, the paint had already dried. Luckily I knew that all I needed to do was add some fresh paint to make what had dried wet again!
When the paint is wet, it simply rubs right off.
Distressing is an art form itself. My method for distressing is very much like that for staging vignettes. You want a zig zag pattern to your distressing. High right on one drawer and low left on the next for example. You also want to think of those areas that will naturally distress with time and use. That is why edges and handles are often more worn than other areas of a piece.
When I was painting this piece I also took that into consideration. There were some areas on the dresser where veneer had already chipped off, old paint had already worn down to raw wood, etc. In those areas I did not work the paint down into the recessed areas. I simply skimmed the paint over the top of the surface. This makes it easier to rub off or sand off the paint for distressing.
So for the wet sanding I simply used a rag and rubbed it or drug it across the surfaces that I wanted distressed. Some areas I “scrubbed” to get the amount of distressing I wanted. If you don’t want to scrub paint off of your hands, just wear gloves. I think once you sand like this, you will realize it works REALLY well!
Google Search Wet Sanding Technique
And actually in writing this tutorial I Googled how to wet sand Fusion mineral paint and I am not doing it how Google’s search results suggested, but this is how I do it and it works very well.
In the search results, they had let the piece dry. Then they came back with a wet sponge, wet an area and then used sand paper to sand. So doing it that way is always an option too!
Finished Product
After putting the hardware back on the piece, I was done! Dayna had given me a Top Coat to use, but I didn’t think this piece really needed one. The tops of a dresser do not get that much use, so I decided to save it for another piece! Fusion paint will cure in 21 days, meaning that you can lightly use the piece once the paint has dried, but for heavier use, it is best to wait.
This piece will be sitting in the showroom, so it will definitely have 21 days to cure.
Watch the Whole Process
Must Mentions
All of my tips are from painting in general. Remember this is my first time using Fusion mineral paint. I recommend what has worked for me and my experiences, but it never hurts to ask the experts! Especially if you aren’t as spontaneous of DIY’er as myself.
Here are some answers from FUSION mineral paints that might help calm your fears…
How do you prep your piece? ANSWER
How to wet sand? ANSWER
When to use a top coat over your paint? ANSWER
How long does it take a piece to cure? ANSWER