Care, treatment and repair tips on wicker/rattan from from Susan Day Moore of Wicker By Design

Care and Repair of Wicker Furniture

Susan Day Moore of Wicker By Design offers some of her tips learned from her over 15 years of experience of working with portrait photographers. Click here to learn more about how Susan started out in wicker restorations and antique reproductions, and eventually came to selling props to portrait photographers.

Wicker By Design's wicker props are designed to be durable and strong. We hear reports from many photographers that have used our pieces for hundreds of sittings. However, all furniture is going to be damaged from repeated use, no matter how careful the photographer. Here are a few tips from Susan on wicker care plus some useful web sites for more advice.

Never leave wicker in the elements or in a hot dry place; even extended exposure to the sun will dry and bake the reeds, and they will break. When the wicker reeds begin to crack or break, it can only get worse.

It is a good idea to wash your wicker down on an occasional basis with a hose to remove dust and to "hydrate" the pieces (dried out wicker is more prone to be brittle and break).

You can reglue the wrappings with Elmer's Glue.

For small spots or blemishes on the wicker where the paint is chipped, use whiteout for white or whitewash finish or brown artist's felt tip pen for walnut (brown) stained finishes.

In general, wicker can be repainted. Wicker with a brown/walnut finished can be painted white but you must first apply a stain blocking primer like "Kilz." Unfortunately, white wicker cannot be stained to look brown or walnut. However, white wicker can be repainted ivory or tan. In addition, it is possible to repaint white wicker to have a "whitewash" look. We know of photographers who have applied ivory/tan paint on white wicker and sponge/wipe off that ivory/tan coat to create the whitewash or two-tone finish.

To prepare the paint job, lightly sand the wicker; apply one or two coats of primer with finish top coat in semi-gloss or gloss paint. Always use an oil based paint. You can use spray paints in a can (look for a high quality brand) or an electric power sprayer. Of course, you can always employ a professional painter.

We do supply replacements for the cushions. The price ranges from $20 to $75.

Simple repairs can be done with supplies and more tips from the sources/links below:

Canning supplies at caneandreed.com/bookstore.htm
Lots of wicker sales links at aboutchair.com/wickerchairs/
Great advice on wicker care from the wickerwoman.com
More advice from wickerwoman.com, this time on wicker repair
Wicker repair sources from wickerwoman.com
Frank's Supply for can and reed
Wicker repair advice from diynetwork.com
More on the care and repair of wicker from refinishfurniture.com

For portrait photography tips, click here. Or click here for more portrait photography resources.

Do you have a question for Susan? Do you have a question for us about wicker or wicker repair? Click here to contact us at Wicker By Design with your question. Or email us at info@wickerby.com.

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