Polyurethane

Last week I bought a couple of artist’s mannequins from Ikea. Looking at some of the hand painted mannequins that were displayed on a shelf I had an inspired idea: why not try to decorate them myself?

I picked up some brushes, a tin of two-in-one stain and varnish from a Wal-Mart, and when I got home I applied my first coat of paint to the base of a mannequin. I wasn’t able to finish the project this weekend, so the first thing I did when I got home on Monday and Tuesday evening was run out to the balcony, clean my brushes, and apply more layers of varnish to the mannequin.

Even if you aren’t up to making a bold artistic statement, it’s very easy to spruce up those unfinished Ikea mannequins. Two coats of varnish to the body and base can really bring out the color of the wood. The Ikea design is quite beautiful in its elegant simplicity. Although I know that the dummy is supposed to serve a utilitarian function, when it's painted the mannequin is an objet d'art in its own right.

It can be tricky applying varnish to the joints – my advice would be to paint the joints of the dummy first before moving on to the arms, legs, torso and head. I got a lot less paint on my fingers when I applied it that way. Polyurethane is very sticky and hard to wash off, so be careful when applying it.

As an encore, I’d like to paint the second unfinished mannequin for my nephew. Nothing too fancy – I’d just like to paint the base green, the feet brown, the legs, arms and torso red, and just apply varnish to the head and feet. I’d also like to add some details to the face, but I’d like to keep the design simple to avoid any screw ups.