To Gloss or Matte? A not so glaringly obvious answer.

On my way down to Lake Atitlan every day behind the house I rent in San Antonio Palópo, Guatemala I spied a can of marine varnish left sitting on the palapa brick wall baking in the sun, apparently abandoned, waiting for someone (me?) to claim it. Our landlord had been varnishing the new pine bed he had just made for my second bedroom when he was called back to the UK because of an illness in the family and the job was promptly aborted and so sat the coveted can of varnish for weeks.

I spray a finish on all the papier mâché bowls, jewelry and wall art that I make and I'd run out of the stuff two weeks before we go to Panajachel for our monthly shopping run. I had earrings made and ready to be put up for sale on my Etsy shop except for the varnish coat - and two weeks with merchandise that no potential customer can see is bad business and these days for me it's all about the money! What's a woman supposed to do? Eventually I could no longer resist temptation and one morning whilst picking limes and avocados in the garden, I took the varnish.

The marine varnish worked well with the paper earrings - and why wouldn't it? Earrings look great glossy. Marine varnish is the best. I used it on my old wooden boat all the time. Of course, weathered teak hard wood is a far cry from delicate papier mâché and I should have known that problems would surface down the road.

Actually, it's not the delicacy of the paper mache that is the problem. I should have listened to my inner self who said "don't make the bowls too shiny, it cheapens them". After the earrings went well, I chose to gloss some of my bowls and immediately regretted my decision. I now have seven bowls that I need to bring down to a matte finish, or as far as I'm concerned, they are garbage. They are glaring, like looking at glass on a sunny day glaring. They look like they came out of a cheap lacquer shop. I am beside myself.

How do you bring a shiny gloss down to a matte finish?

I asked Jonni Good of Ultimate Paper Mache for her advice. She's the online paper mache guru and has a wealth of information under her belt. She suggested sanding if my layers were thick enough but I can't. I know as soon as I put sandpaper to these bowls the acrylic paint will start to come off which would be a disaster. She also pointed me toward a Krylon matte product but I've had no luck with finding it here and I can't find anyone who will ship an aerosol can outside of the USA. I live in Central America. I'm pretty sure that Krylon could solve my gloss problem - they make an excellent product - but not here in the mountains of Guatemala.

Homemade mod podge which is supposed to dry matte did not do the job. There was no visible difference on a pair of earrings after one coat.

Time to bring in the experts.

Of course you can sand the object but not when it's a paper mache bowl with all of its intricacy, plus the fact that it's made of paper, flour and glue - sand a bit too much and you take the paper away as well as the varnish. I went online again and found some advice from The Practical Art World who suggested that I apply a matte varnish over the gloss and all would be right with my world but he is talking about an oil painting, a totally different medium. I liked the idea though.  When I searched Panajachel for matte varnish all I could come up with was Lanco Polyurethane  which salespeople in a couple of shops swore was matte but nowhere on the can other than a paper label stuck on the lid for importing purposes does it say matte finish. The back of the can states that you should remove any gloss (I suppose that was a clue) by sanding the object before varnishing. I cannot sand these bowls. They are not flat or smooth and there's no way I could get sandpaper into all the crevices. I could ruin my work easily.

My partner bought a can of polyurethane (unbeknownst to me) and I couldn't return it (no one refunds money in Panajachel) so I had to try it or discard it. I practiced on a pair of earrings in progress. It turns out I was worrying for nothing. It worked like a charm. I couldn't believe it! One coat took off the gloss but I missed spots because when it was wet it just all looked glossy. Two coats were perfect. I cannot express how pleased I am with the result. 

Doing the happy dance!

My Choctaw Eagle Feather bowl went from disgustingly garish (IMO) back to what I had intended; a respectful (non-garish) tribute to the Choctaw native people.