Easy step-by-step instructions {including free patterns & printables} for creating an adorable “Kissing Hand” Share Chair – for your favorite teacher, child, or school auction.
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On Mr B’s side of the family, we draw names for Christmas gifts, and last year I was thrilled when I drew our soon-to-be niece Lauren’s name. (She’s marrying our nephew this summer!) Lauren is a first grade teacher, and I knew exactly what I wanted to make for her – a Share Chair for her classroom. A share chair, sometimes called an “author’s chair,” is a special chair that students sit in when it is their turn to read their written pieces or share something special with the class.
To personalize Lauren’s Share Chair, I did a little detective work and learned that “The Kissing Hand” is one of her favorite children’s books, so I took my theme from that.
Note that the process detailed here can be used to create a special chair based on any children’s book. Simply pick two dominant colors and a couple of simple images and/or motifs from the book of your choice, and go for it! {I’d love to read about your ideas, so if you think of a one you’d like to try, please be sure to share it in the comments below!}
Obviously, the first thing I needed was a chair. In order to keep it inside our agreed upon gift maximum of $25, I shopped around until I found the chair I used for this project for $5.99 at Goodwill. If money is not an issue (or you just can’t wait for one to show up at your local thrift store) you can undoubtedly find a solidly crafted, reasonably priced chair online or at your local superstore that will work well for this project.
Materials List:
The following is a list of the all materials that I used for this project. (You can change it up however you wish, but this will give you a starting point.) Most of these items are available at your local craft or hardware store, but I’ve included links here just in case. Supplies can also be found at Blick Art Materials, Joanns, and Michaels.
- Chair – Because you will be giving it a whole new face, the chair you use for this project does not need to be new, but if you purchase a used one, be sure that the joints are solid. (No one wants a wonky chair!)
Chair Prep & Paint:
- Krylon ColorMaster Paint & Primer {Iris} {I searched and searched for the just the right blue to anchor this project. This is perfect.}
- Krylon ColorMaster Paint & Primer {White}
- Krylon Crystal Clear Acrylic Coating
- Yellow Acrylic Craft Paint {Chair arms, back, and lower rungs or rocker}
- Steel Wool #1 or #0
- Tack Cloth
- Painter’s Tape
- Plastic wrap
- 1″ Foam Brush
- Sanding Sponge
- Acrylic Craft Paints – for painting details, raccoons, etc. {details to follow later in post}
- Drop cloth
Depending upon which approach you choose for the raccoons, you will also need:
- #6 Round Brush – For painting raccoons by hand. {See Step 7, Option #1}, OR
- Mod Podge – For decoupaging raccoons using a printed image. {Image provided. See Step 7, Option #2}
Step 1 – Sand Chair
Using the sanding sponge, lightly sand the chair. Sanding sponges are great for this project, because they are easy on your hands and conform readily to curves. You do not need to remove all of the existing finish: the point of this step is to create some “bite” on the wood’s surface so that the paint can adhere more effectively.
Step 2 – Remove Sanding Dust
Using a tack cloth, wipe the entire surface of the chair to remove any dust from sanding. This is an important step: if you skip it, when you paint the chair, the surface will feel gritty. DO NOT use a damp towel to remove sanding dust: this will raise the grain on the wood and make your chair all rough and bumpy.
Step 3 – Apply Base Coat & Primer
In a well ventilated area, apply two coats of White Krylon ColorMaster Paint & Primer using smooth, light strokes. (One can of paint will be plenty for two coats.) Wait about 15-30 minutes between coats.
Allow your sparkly new white chair to set out for at least a few hours (or better yet, overnight) after you apply the second coat to allow the paint to “cure.”
When the white paint has completely cured, use #1 or #0 steel wool to gently smooth the surface. Remove any dust or steel wool debris with a tack cloth. Now you have a clean, white chair to work your magic on.
Step 4 – Mask Off Contrasting Areas
Using painter’s tape and plastic wrap, carefully mask off any areas that you wish to paint yellow. Take your time with this step: a careful job at this stage will save you tons of time later in touch-ups.
Step 5 – Paint Blue Chair Parts
Apply two coats of Iris Krylon ColorMaster Paint & Primer, waiting 15-30 minutes between coats. Allow chair to set out for at least a few hours after you apply the second coat. Carefully remove masking tape and plastic.
When the blue paint has completely cured, use the steel wool to smooth gently the surface. Remove any dust or steel wool debris with a tack cloth.
Step 6 – Paint Yellow Chair Parts
Using a foam brush and the yellow acrylic craft paint, paint the remaining areas that had been previously masked with long, smooth strokes. Because I wanted a light, bright feel to these areas, I only applied on one coat of yellow paint, allowing the white undercoat to peak through slightly. For a more “solid” feel, apply two coats.
Step 7 – Raccoons and Hearts {2 Approaches}
Option #1 – Paint the raccoons yourself
If you choose to paint the raccoons yourself, rest assured that doing so is very easy. Below is a short list of the supplies I used for painting the raccoons, etc. This list is offered only as a guide: you can, of course, use any brushes and colors you choose. That being said, a #6 round brush is my all-time favorite brush for painting simple images like the raccoons on this chair. I find it to be the most versatile, useful brush in my (embarrassingly large) collection; moreover, I did not use any other brushes for the details on this project.
- #6 Round Brush
- Acrylic Craft Paints {2 oz. bottles}
♦ Red {Hearts}
♦ White {Base mix, eyes, tail highlights, dots}
♦ Black {Base mix, eyes, mask, tail, etc.}
♦ Golden Brown {Base mix}
♦ Lavender {Base mix, highlights}
I free-handed the design onto my chair using a #2 pencil while eyeballing a picture from the book. However, if you would like to transfer the image directly, simply print out this free pattern and use a sheet of graphite paper (which is a lot like old-fashioned carbon paper, but without the mess) to transfer it to your chair.
I wish that I had been more meticulous about taking pictures of the raccoon-painting process, but once I got started, it all happened pretty quickly. Just squeeze out your paints onto a palate or paper plate and start up. If you aren’t sure of yourself, do a couple of trial runs on a piece of scrap wood or a paper plate.
For the raccoon bodies, I mixed a base color using the just a touch of black, a lot of white, some golden brown, and a little lavender. (If my base color was a cake, proportionally the white would be the flour, the golden brown would be the sugar, the lavender would be the eggs, and the black would be the salt.) The trick to this “raccoon-base” is to not mix it all too thoroughly, and just keep picking color up with your brush and applying it in the direction that you want the fur to go, adding low lights and highlights along the way. Acrylic paints are very forgiving, so if you make a mistake or don’t like how it turned out, you can always just let it dry and paint over it.
Pro Tips: Dip the end of a foam brush in red paint to create the round top portions of the larger red hearts, and then use a stylus (or an old, dry pen) to pull the paint down for the point of the heart. (Back in my tole painting days, we used to call these “Dolly Parton Hearts.”) Use a stylus dipped in white acrylic paint to create fine highlights on the raccoon noses, eyes, and detail dots.
Option #2 – Decoupage the raccoons using my images
If you want to make this chair, but think your painting skills aren’t quite up to it, you’re probably way overestimating the difficulty of painting raccoons. However, I get it – not everyone paints stuff with small brushes. In that case, you may want to grab a bottle of Mod Podge and decoupage a color-copied image onto your chair. In this case, I’ve created a PDF file with my raccoon images that you are free to use for that purpose. Simply follow the directions on the Mod Podge bottle to decoupage the raccoons onto your chair.
(Legal blahblah: The images in the PDFs provided in the post are for personal use only. They may not be altered, shared, or used for profit or for any purpose other than that outline here without written permission. Moreover, I explicitly do not endorse using color copies from the book for this option, both out of respect for “Kissing Hand” illustrators Ruth Harper & Nancy Leak’s beautiful artwork and for US copyright laws.)
If you go the decoupage route, you will only red and white acrylic paint, for the heart and dots.
After you have added the raccoons to your chair, have some fun! Add a details (i.e., hearts, dots, etc.) for interest, and make it your own! If you are thinking of creating this for a special teacher or as a school auction item, you might consider having each child in the classroom make a fingerprint heart on the chair.
Step 8 – Apply Clear Sealer
This is the final step. Apply two coats of Krylon Crystal Clear Acrylic Coating, waiting at least 30 minutes between coats. When the chair is done, allow it is set out in a well ventilated space for a couple of days so that the “spray-can paint” smell has a chance to dissipate.
This is a fun, easy, and relatively fast project. It literally took me (at least) twice as long to create this DIY tutorial as it took to make Lauren’s chair, in terms of actual “hand-on” time. It is such a satisfying project too, and results in a gift that will be treasured for years to come.
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