Painted Art Boxes

[Jimi10]

I'm looking to start my own stall selling hand paint art on boxes.
I have many ideas in my head but have many questions i was wondering if you could help me with.

I'm planning to make the boxes simply out of MDF, mitering the components to construct the box.
The main selling point on these boxes will be the paint finish, as I will be looking to follow the trends in fashion to sell my product. Things like 'Gold Heart' on black backround. Or 'painted national flags' 'religious crosses' 'Red Rose on white.'

Or even using stencils as i have an air compressor spray gun.

A big problem I have is finding cheap bulk products such as 25mm hinges, latches, glue, sandpaper, felt and also the different paints. How can i find a merchant that will sell me cheap in bulk??

Also I'm unsure of the painting process on MDF.

I was thinking just to prime, then use acrylic paint for the art designs then sealing with a varnish or lacquer.
I noticed acrylic paint is very expensive though.
Do you have any ideas on this..?
Cause I really want the paint finish to look perfect but at a reasonable price.

Any advice you can give me would be great.

Many Thanks

Jimi

 

[Battlecat]

Hi I have pained MDF , be careful though as the dust is poisonous. There are purpose made MDF primers, acrylic. Process, prime , light sanding, prime, light sanding and then paint, you only need one priming but two makes for a flatter surface and better finish. Seal with suitable varnish. If painting with acrylic then an acrylic or neutral varnish otherwise it may crack. I use a sprayer to do larger furniture, emulsion makes a good paint esp. if its being sealed, you can get larger tubes of acrylic paints online. As for bulk buys for hardware then toolstation and screwfix are a good start.

 

[OwainDIYer]

Making your own probably isn't cost-effective. You can buy blank boxes from craft suppliers eg

http://www.craftmill.co.uk/plain-wooden-boxes-decoupage-blanks/plain-wooden-storage-boxes
http://craftshapes.co.uk/cat_boxes.htm
http://www.thewoodenboxmill.co.uk/small-wooden-trinket-or-favour-boxes-c-8.html