Question
I have to duplicate a door finish that Tawas Woodworking made approximately ten years ago. The current customer saw a sample and liked it. The pictures below show the depth of the finish. I found that it is "ICA mother of pearl" material. I have been making samples for a month and need help. The M. of P. when sprayed is too silvery so I have added a black pigment to get the correct color. The problem is getting repeatable results as air temp and movement seem to affect results.
Forum Responses
(Finishing Forum)
From contributor R:
Hard to tell from a photo, but that looks like a "hammertone" finish to me. I used to make my own by adding a pearl powder to my topcoat and then adding silicone until getting the effect I was after. HOK makes pearl powders in many colors including black. I hope this helps.
From my experience, laying down a full wet coat seems to be the cause of the inconsistency in appearance. Or if you overlap too much in some areas the same problems will happen in spots or stripes. It seems to be an issue with the pigments floating/flooding in the wet paint.
Once you get the look you want, let it flash off and mist on an even coat of toner to adjust the shade. If you need more than one coat of toner, let each previous coat flash off before applying the next. Rewetting the paint with too heavy a toner/clear coat will also produce inconsistent results. Try the light coat approach with the tinted paint you have and see if it comes out looking better.
Something else I noticed with that sample is it's not prepped very well. You're not going to get consistent results that way. Your sample's need the exact same steps and attention that the finished product will have. I'd use a black or green primer.
