Fishy Tale
A bit fishy?
"I'd like to buy a roll of your black paper with fish," said the voice.
I looked at my phone.
It was a US number.
Wasn't expecting that.
I was in the middle of a field in the village of Burpham, walking Elsa.
Signal was in and out.
"And if you could tell me how you do your chests of drawers."
"Well, I could tell you sir...but then ..."
.... I laughed.
" Oh! No no...I'm not trade. My wife wants to decorate one for our home."
I was a tad wary.
Separating the scams from the genuine on phone calls and emails
....you need your wits about you, don't you?
Was he trade looking to flood the US market with lookalike chests?
Or did he indeed have a scissor happy wife?
Who knew.
I was impatient...I had a dog at my heels eager to run....and was not keen to give away trade secrets.
But... I told him...obviously not the finer details...its taken us 25 years of experimenting
....getting it wrong
....putting it right
I'm not completely stupid....
...although some days that is debatable.
"It's actually not black paper printed with fish, sir.....
....here's what your wife needs to do.....
Firstly...
give the chest 3,
maybe 4 coats of paint,
gentle sand between coats.
Then photocopy and cut out each fish.
Stick them on.
After that give it several layers of varnish.
Leave it to really harden off.
A coat or two of antique wax.
Buff it to a sheen......"
He was silent for a moment...before cutting in...
" Hmmm that sounds like rather a lot of work......"
And just like that....he was gone....
And we carried on tramping over the fields.
Like to see more?
#decorative
#paintedfurniture
#decoupage
#upcycled
#fishchestofdrawers
#antiquestore
"I'd like to buy a roll of your black paper with fish," said the voice.
I looked at my phone.
It was a US number.
Wasn't expecting that.
I was in the middle of a field in the village of Burpham, walking Elsa.
Signal was in and out.
"And if you could tell me how you do your chests of drawers."
"Well, I could tell you sir...but then ..."
.... I laughed.
" Oh! No no...I'm not trade. My wife wants to decorate one for our home."
I was a tad wary.
Separating the scams from the genuine on phone calls and emails
....you need your wits about you, don't you?
Was he trade looking to flood the US market with lookalike chests?
Or did he indeed have a scissor happy wife?
Who knew.
I was impatient...I had a dog at my heels eager to run....and was not keen to give away trade secrets.
But... I told him...obviously not the finer details...its taken us 25 years of experimenting
....getting it wrong
....putting it right
I'm not completely stupid....
...although some days that is debatable.
"It's actually not black paper printed with fish, sir.....
....here's what your wife needs to do.....
Firstly...
give the chest 3,
maybe 4 coats of paint,
gentle sand between coats.
Then photocopy and cut out each fish.
Stick them on.
After that give it several layers of varnish.
Leave it to really harden off.
A coat or two of antique wax.
Buff it to a sheen......"
He was silent for a moment...before cutting in...
" Hmmm that sounds like rather a lot of work......"
And just like that....he was gone....
And we carried on tramping over the fields.
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#decorative
#paintedfurniture
#decoupage
#upcycled
#fishchestofdrawers
#antiquestore
#englishantiquestore
#englishantiques
#arundelsussex
#englishantiques
#arundelsussex
#arundelantiquestore
