[ragiarn]

I just finished my first attempt at carving with knives. Previously I had done some carving using power tools on my intarsia projects. I decided to try carving a caricature using my exacto knife set and the free patterns available on the wood carving illustrated website (Dave Stetsons little Hombre)

I completed the carving and now I have come to the painting part. I have some acrylic paint but I am not sure what to do next. Do I start with a primer coat or do I just begin painting the finished carving? How do I get a realistic skin tone color for the face?

Doc

[Ron T]

Hello Doc,

Nice job for a first with knives. Did you enjoy the experience? I love the feel of my knives on wood.

I, too, am learning to finish my pieces. If you go to my thread, "Hooker needs help", you'll see some wonderful suggestions on finishing, sealing and, painting.

Good luck.

[flcracker]

Go to Gene's you tube YouTube - Painting The MInature Figure Part 1
here is a link to his painting a miniture .

[Claude]

You definitely want to seal the wood. One sealer to use is the MinWax Sanding Sealer. Works well, but you have to wait a week for it dry and evaporate from the wood. Another method that I use is to just coat the entire carving first with a coat of water-based varnish. That will seal the wood so the acrylic paint does bleed into areas where you don't want it. If you're planning to use oil paints, ignore all this.

Claude