Antique Brown Rattan Finish

The rattan is a special substrate that has provided value as its uniqueness, but the proper finishing will give added value by enhancing its special form. The finishing for rattan is actually very similar to the finishing for the wood. The materials that are used are the same. But since rattan does not have the same grain and pores as wood, the rattan finish is more emphasised to enhance the unique form and shape of the rattan product.

In this article, we want to share the finishing process of rattan wicker with a light brown color and a dark brown glaze. The rattan base color is light brown, with the dark brown color glaze used to fill and color the inside of the rattan wicker to generate the attractive and lifelike finish. Rattan skin is used, so the special sealer is needed as the first layer to get the better finish adhesion. While the NC finish system is used, the NC clear coating, stain and glaze are used for the overall finish. 

antique brown rattan finish step panel

Here are the finishing processes, step by step.

• Washing the rattan and application of the first sealer.

The first process is to take care of the rattan skin. The has a skinny layer surface that may contain wax or oil. Than the rattan needs to be washed and cleaned from the waxes that may still be attached to the surfaces. We used a scotchbrite that was wet by acetone to rub and clean the rattan. We rubbed the overall rattan to make sure the rattan was cleaned. Then we blow with the air gun to clean the dust and dry the acetone.

Then, after the rattan was clean, we sprayed cane sealer on the rattan surface. The cane sealer is the special sealer to take care of the rattan skin. We sprayed the cane sealer wet coat to the overall surface and let it dry for about 30 minutes.

•   Stain application

Stain is used to color the rattan. We sprayed a light brown stain to make a light brown color rattan finish. The stain was applied by wet coat spray to the rattan surface. We let the stain dry for about 5 minutes.

•  Application of a second sealer.

The second sealer is applied to protect the stain color and also to form and build the finish film. For the second sealer, we used a NC sealer since the overall finish system is NC finish. NC sealer was sprayed to the overall surface. We let the sealer sit for about 30 minutes to dry.

• Glaze application.

The glaze was applied to fill the inside webbing and form the brown color for the rattan. Dark brown glaze (Van Dyke Brown glaze) was brushed to fill and color inside the webbing. The glaze was also layered evenly on the surface to form the finish color. We did some highlighting to the glaze layer to make it look more lifelike. We waited for 1 hour to let the glaze dry.

• Application of the first top coat.

The next step is the top coat application. We don’t need to sand the clear coating at the rattan finish, so we can use the top coat instead of sealer. The top coat will also give better adhesion than the sealer. The top coat was sprayed wet coat to layer and protect the glaze layer. We let the top coat layer for about 30 minutes to dry.

• Smudge pad and dry brush glaze.

The next process is the antiquating process. We used dark brown pad stain to pad the top coat layer. A dampened cloth with the pad stain was padded at the top coat layer to make the antique impression. We added some dry brush to burnish the corner and make it look more antique. 

• Application of the second top coat.

The next process is the second top coat application. It is the last coat layer to protect the finish color and to form the gloss of the finish. A medium gloss NC top coat was sprayed to the finish. And the result was the antique brown rattan finish.