Hi everyone! I've found a lot of helpful information here as I attempt to restore my collection of Eames chairs, and I'm hoping you'll be able to give me some advice.
I have two side shells that were badly painted two different shades of red at some point in their history (I have no idea when) - their original color appears to be some kind of beige. I've attached some pictures so you can better see what I mean. I bought them hoping I could strip them down to the original beige, and so far I've done two rounds of Citristrip and scrubbed a bit with some soft steel wool. The last attached picture is after the first round of Citristrip. The darker red splotches have since been scrubbed away - the surface paint came off quite nicely - and the overall color is a bit lighter than what you see in the picture.
However, I fear that I may be reaching the limit of what Citristrip can do. I have no idea how long that paint was on the chairs, and I'm worried that the pigment may be in too deep. Should I just use some more elbow grease? Try using a sander? Or is the original fiberglass color completely lost? Do I dare (gulp) paint them? I've seen some pretty nice results with painted shells, but obviously that's not my first choice.
I appreciate any advice you can give...thanks!
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you sure its not just a red s...
you sure its not just a red shell chair?
the pigment of the shell chairs was mixed in to the fiberglass resin. so the only way to lose the color is extreme weather exposure really like sun etc, that ive seen
so get as much of the paint you can get off and start sanding. pretty straight forward and easy. you cant really hurt the original color of the chair if it is still there.
SoyGel
I had good results using SoyGel on a painted arm chair (two coats of paint). Just brush it on, wait 10-15 minutes, and then scrape it off with a plastic paint scraper. Keep the surface wet with stripper and let it do the work. Do this in the shade so it doesn't dry out, and repeat as needed.
Unfortunately the fibers had soaked up the paint and were discolored. Acetone worked to remove some of this, but it's very time consuming and you might not be able to get it perfect again without sanding a bit deeper.
They'll probably need to be resprayed with gel coat, otherwise they will be forever itchy.
Hope this helps!
I'm working on these chairs...
I'm working on these chairs at my boyfriend's house, and funnily enough, his neighbor has worked for Herman Miller since the 80's. He came over to look at the chairs a couple weeks ago while I was gone, and he thought they might be red shells. However, by that point the original color had been covered up with the Citristrip, which had taken on the red pigment. So his assessment, while it came from an expert, wasn't really fully informed. I still think they're some kind of beige (I know the pictures I posted are huge, but if you scroll over, you can see the original color in pic #2). Anyone have an idea what the actual color is called?
Thanks for the recommendation on SoyGel - is it pretty easy to find?
So what I'm hearing is that I should use more paint stripper (either Citristrip or SoyGel), then do a wet sand and maybe touch up with acetone - yes? Is a power sander safe to use?
Thanks for the help - I will keep you all posted!
link to an older stripping thread
Here is a link to an older stripping thread.
I don't think I would sand these, unless the paper was finer than 400 grit, which would be just to smooth them out, in small spots only.
http://www.designaddict.com/design_addict/forums/index.cfm/fuseaction/th...
So, basically, I should just...
So, basically, I should just keep on going with Citristrip or Soygel, fine steel wool, and lots of elbow grease?
That thread was encouraging - I'm glad to hear that sometimes it can take many rounds of Citristrip. Here I've been thinking that I was reaching the limit of what it can do, and I've only done two rounds so far.
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