Help With Finish for Sewing Cabinet

[Mike Goetzke]

Making a sewing cabinet for my daughter. She wants to use TransFast dye. We made a batch to her liking but now I’m wondering about the topcoat. I have a Fuji Q4 and like spraying water-based finishes and worried now if the topcoat will draw out the dye?

I see some put the dye right into the topcoat but I don’t think this will look as good as stain with a clear topcoat?

I read someone had success by applying a very thin first coat on clear water-based finish.

Is there a sealer or something I can apply before my water-based topcoat or should I look into oil based finishes?

I have used Target Coatings finishes but please suggest your favorites - looking for a durable satin finish.

Thanks,
Mike

[Robert Maloney]

You could spray a light coat of dewaxed shellac to act as a barrier coat, or a coat of Target's water based shellac. I do it all the time to keep my eyes from migrating into my topcoats. I also like the color it adds. As with any finishing schedule, test on some scrap pieces first.

[Jim Becker]

A sprayed water borne finish, especially if you do your first one or two applications relatively thin isn't going to cause issue with your dye, IMHO. But I personally do what Robert suggests which is to do a thin barrier coat of de-waxed shellac to both seal in the color and also "warm things up" a little since most (but not all) water borne finishes tend to be "colder" in color characteristics.