Randall,
The steel tube is covered in patterned cloth (quilting material actually) glued onto the tube. Once the glue had cured, I coated it with 5 coats of clear polyurathane gloss finish (Estapol).
I suggest a trip with Morbius Jnr to your local quilting supplies shop to make your selection. Be warned, our local shop appeared to have about 3,000 different materials to choose from
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Have fun,