Paint for Carving

[DMH1112]

I was wondering where everyone else buys their paint for carving, and where you can buy good inexpensive paint for carving? I thought that Walmart sold large bottles of acrylic paint in many colors, but I am unsure whether or not it would be good for carvings.

Thanks

[Dougie]

The paint at Walmart is fine. They sell Folkart in 2oz bottles which will do a ton of carvings. Most people thin it down with water. Hope this helps. Michaels is another place to buy and have a much larger choice of brands. (Delta and Americana & Folkart)
Doug

[BobT]

Exactly as Doug said. Expensive paint is no better than Cheap paint. If you watch, Micheals and Hobby Lobby are always having sales on the little bottles of acrylics, even cheaper than WalMart.

Look at this link; Rhadigan Painting

Not to say that is the only way, but if it works for Floyd Rhadigan, it works for me. I use it as I got tired of all that old stinky stuff.

[A_Swope]

I by mine at Michaels, I use Plaid brand.

Alex

[Gulf Coast Handyman]

I use the .99 paint at Michaels and it works fine. I bought a bunch when it was 4 for a $1.00

Dave

[abelville]

Should you use a sealer on basswood before applying paint?

Al

[Eddy-Smiles]

Unless you get into the more expensive brands like LiquidTex I'm not sure that there is any difference in the quality of paint between Michael's own "Craft" brand, Anita's, Delta Ceramcoat, Folk Art, Apple Barrel, and Americana. And this probably is especially true after you water them down as mentioned by Doug. I keep all my paints ( 137colors) in a large tool box for east access and transport and if someone blindfolded me and put the paint that I needed on the pallette the only way that I might be able to differentiate between brands would be in its viscosity. For example, Americana tends to be way thicker than Delta Ceramcoat.

[susieq]

As everyone else has said, the little 2 oz bottles from the craft stores are just fine. There are so many shades available that you almost never have to mix colors to get what you want....but, they will get lumpy with age...the paint gets thick....about once a year, I go through my paint stock and check to make sure it's not getting thick and lumpy. If it is, I dump it into a little stainless steel bowl, blend in some water to thin it back down (a pallet knife is best for this) and then dump it back into the bottle. I have at least a hundred bottles to keep track of so it can be a job, but I can't afford to be buying new paint when a little effort would take care of things.

If you are going to use a thin wash style, some folks don't like to put a sealer on before painting. I would ask some of the experts and read through other posts in the painting and finishing section. Some things have been posted regarding that.

I do seal the wood first....but I don't do the thin wash style....

[Ron T]

I just went to Michael's today. They had Americana on sale for 77 cents a bottle. I think they do this regularly.

[Claude]

If I'm planning on painting some fine details, after I wash the carving and let dry, I give it a thinned-down coat of satin water-based varnish (= parts water and varnish). This gives just enough sealing that the end grain won't soak up quite as much paint as it would if left unsealed.

Claude