Veiling Lacquer for Spiderweb Finish

Veiling lacquer is a finishing material to make special effects on the web spider. It is a lacquer that is specially made to be elastic and stretchy. In the furniture finishing industry, veiling lacquer is used to make the special and antique look. The spider web effect will bring the special effect and more life looked at the finishing. The spider, together with the other antiquing technique, will bring the more dramatic old and antique-looking.
To find more information about the veiling of lacquer, see our previous article: Vieling lacquer. Now, in this article, I want to share the application of veiling lacquer in the finishing process. The finishing processes step by step can be viewed at the step panel below.

Step panel with veiling lacquer finish

•  Stain application

Stain application is the step to make the color. In this finish, we used the purple base coat to make the color. The NC base coat was applied by wet coat spray evenly to the overall surface. Then we waited for about 30 minutes to let the base coat layer dry. After the base coat layer was dry, then we sanded the base coat layer with the #280 sandpaper.

To get the even color, we needed to repeat the base coat application. We sprayed the base coat, let it dry, and sanded the base coat layer.

Note:
We need to check the coloring result in this step to make sure we got the color we want. Sometime we may need to apply 1 more layer of base coat to get the color we need. Make sure we sand the base coat layer well. The rough layer of the base coat will affect the color and look at the final finishing.

• 1st sealer  application

The next process is the first sealer application. We applied the sealer by wet coat spray to the surface. We let the sealer layer sit for about 30 minutes to dry.

Note.
The sealer is needed to protect the base coat and to provide the smooth surface for glaze application. Make sure we spray wet coat sealer evenly to make the smooth and even film layer. 
In this panel color, we use the purple color. For this finish, the yellowing of the lacquer and sealer could affect and change the finish color significantly. Then we used the non-yellowing sealer and top coat as the clear coat.

• glaze application.

To make the finishing to be more "life” and special, we applied glaze to the finish. A white glaze was applied by brush to the surface evenly. Then we waited for about 1 hour to let the glaze dry. To add the special effect, we also spattered the white glaze at the finish. The result was purple blue with white vagueness and some white spots.

• 2nd sealer application.

We sprayed the sealer evenly at the surface and then let it sit for 30 minutes to dry. Then we sanded the sealer layer to get the smooth surface as preparation for the veiling lacquer application.

• The veiling lacquer application.

The next process was the veiling lacquer application. We added some black pigment to the veiling lacquer to make the black veiling lacquer. Then we applied the veiling lacquer at the surface to make the spider web look. To see how to apply the veiling lacquer, you can go to our previous article: veiling lacquer

Note: This step is the key to getting the effect of the veiling lacquer. There are some effects we can get in, the veiling lacquer. After the veiling lacquer application, we need to check the result. Make sure we got the effect we want. If necessary, we can still remove the veiling lacquer effect with steel wool or add some more veiling lacquer in this step.

• top coat application.

The next process was the top coat application. The semigloss top coat was sprayed medium-wet evenly to the finish. Then we let the top coat dry for about 30 minutes. 

Note: The top coat used is the non-yellowing top coat to avoid the changing color of the finish caused by the yellowing lacquer. We cannot spray the lacquer too wet on the veiling lacquer effect. Too-wet spray could solve the veiling lacquer and ruin the spider effect.

• 2nd top coat application.

To get the smooth and even surfaces, we applied the 2nd top coat. We thinned the top coat a little bit and added some more lacquer retarder to the top coat to get better flow. Then we sprayed the top coat evenly wet coat to the finish

Note: The last coat is the last operation for the finish. We need to make sure we do good spraying technique to get the smooth and even finish layer. We can add some thinner and retarder to the top coat mixed to get better flow.