[Callynne]

Â* Â*Oops, I have burned the hair on deer and a buffalo, didn't seal it with anything, painted them with acrylic paints, thinned a bit with water and they looked great, still could see all the texture of the burning. Â*Should I be sealing my pieces before I paint them? Â*Or is it that if you're using a sprayer you have to but with a paint brush it's keeping the burns unclogged? Â*Callynne Â*
P.S. If I should be sealing them where do I get the KT Super Sealer?

[Nancy_G]

Callynne -- I HAVE to seal those danged Santa beards before I paint because I burn, foolishly & impatiently, much too hot, hard and deep. The beards are so black & sooty, despite a good brushing with a Scotchbrite pad in my NSK, that the soot 'bleeds' through acrycic paint unless I seal before painting.
I get KT (and many supplies & tools) from MDI Woodcarvers Supply, Bar Harbor, ME 04609.
http://www.mdiwoodcarvers.com
It's another one of those places that knocks themselves out trying to help you.

[AlArchie]

Up here in the boondocks, we have to use what we can find; gesso, huh? I did find that over in duluth and down in Rhinelander, and sometimes here, but for a good sealer prior to gesso, I found Cabot Stains 2700 sanding sealer. Soaks in without filling, unless you put it on really thick and several coats, and absolutely seals the pores and grain.

I've used it on fish after burning in the scales and it doesn't fill the burns at all, and seals so there is no bleed through.

Tru Value hardware stores cary it around here, but I think I've seen it at Ace, too. Runs about 7 bucks a quart.

Al

Have had the same problem with gesso, tried to order some of KT Sealer supposed to be the answer and no problem burning afterward.....I ordered from woodcutnstuff, but no response no returning phone calls etc, don't know whether to order from someone else, but if I do that may end up with 2 orders! Does anyone know anything about woodcutnstuff? they have really good prices, but that doesn't do any good if you can't get the stuff? It isn't a problem if they are out of business or whatever, just don't want to order and then get theirs.........guess I broke stride with the thread didn't I ? :

[jaguar1712]

gesso is definately important for painting, it basically makes your bird into a "white canvas", otherwise all your colors are going to be off because of the wood showing through ( except for the really dark colors, they don't neccesarily need to be gessoed)

Oh yeah and - seal your bird first before putting any paint on it!! (I use spray on Deft lacquer [matte})
Unsealed wood wll absorb the moisture in the paint and cause it to expand. Not good for all the painstaking texturing.

[Hugh P.]

I use the KT Sealer, white, to seal the wood, it won't raise the grain. But I use it after burning, I'm cautious about the fumes. After sealing I use a real thin watered down Gesso. Gesso is an adherant, it adheres well to sealed wood and Acrylic paint adheres well to Gesso. When painting acrylics on Gesso, the paint is less likely to puddle or slide around. also acrylics blend better for me when using a gesso base. It is important to mix or disolve the gesso completely with the water. Also, when painting not only the Gesso, it is a good idea to start at the back and brush against the textured grain, working the sealer gesso or paint into the fine grooves you have created. It seems to make a more even covering.
There are two brands of the sealer mentioned. T K Sealer, and K T Sealer, and they are quite different. The TK Sealer is sold by Curts Waterfowl Corner. The KT is sold by most carving suppliers.

[Paul_Guraedy]

I paint my carvings mostly with watercolor, which makes things a little different. A few years ago a watercolorist (flat art painter) recommended Golden's Absorbent Ground as a base. The directions say to apply over gesso and it makes the surface work similar to watercolor paper. The Ab. Grd. is used primarily to make slick surfaces like masonite good for watercolor painting. I do not like gesso and tried putting some Ab. Grd. directly on wood. The piece I have on my worktable was coated in May '07 and the Ab. Grd. is holding fast. I love this stuff. It is thinner than gesso and does not have the "slick" look. If watercolor will go over it easily; seems to me that acrylic would also.

[falconer]

Just a note, I normally don't burn the whole bird. I stone the light colored areas, burn the dark areas and sometimes I'll burn just the tips if the stones areas very very lightly. I use gesso on the whole carving but just enough to give the paint something to bit on to.


Welcome to Sierra Creek Studios

[Paul Adkins]

I try to stone as much of the bird as I can and then burn the rest. I seal with a good sealer first then I thin my gesso down to about the consistency of milk just enough to help the paint bond. The less gesso the more thin layers of paint you can add without filling up the texture.