finishing

[Walt]

HI , this is walt could somone outthere help me I'm looking for another type of finish to use on carvings besides poly. I strictly use acrylic paints 50/50 with water. "Please Help" thanks Walt M.

[Mark Gargac]

Heres a step by step on how I finish alsmost everything I carve. I hand these out at classes I teach for students to take home and try for themselves if they like.

[Donna_T]

Mark's hints are great--I've used the process he covers on many carvings. Except, instead of Deft lacquer, I just spritz with an acryllic spray like Krylon. It comes in satin or glossy finish. I especially like the brown bag treatment, BLO, and wax--it really depends on the kind of carving I'm doing, and the surface (smooth, highly detailed like animal fur, relief) and/or how much the carving will be handled.

Donna T

[Blake Lunsford]

Mark,

Please see the attached pictures....I finished this santa bust as a practice piece and finished it with acrylic washes. I gave the paint plenty of time to dry and then painted the BLO with a brush and wiped it down with a lent free cloth. I then sprayed the Deft spray and allowed it to sit and dry for about 36 hours. The results I got were really disappointing......this is the second time this has happened. For some reason it made the carving really "splotchy" and it looks like it hasn't been painted correctly or there was too much BLO on it. Do you have any idea why this happened and any suggestions on how to avoid it?? Anyone who has a suggestion??? I really do appreciate it! I hate to carve a piece and then end up disappointed because the painting turns out horrible.....

Thanks for all your help!
Blake

[Mark Gargac]

Originally Posted by vacaricature carver

Mark,

Please see the attached pictures....I finished this santa bust as a practice piece and finished it with acrylic washes. I gave the paint plenty of time to dry and then painted the BLO with a brush and wiped it down with a lent free cloth. I then sprayed the Deft spray and allowed it to sit and dry for about 36 hours. The results I got were really disappointing......this is the second time this has happened. For some reason it made the carving really "splotchy" and it looks like it hasn't been painted correctly or there was too much BLO on it. Do you have any idea why this happened and any suggestions on how to avoid it?? Anyone who has a suggestion??? I really do appreciate it! I hate to carve a piece and then end up disappointed because the painting turns out horrible.....

Thanks for all your help!
Blake

Blake I believe your mistake was wiping it down with the lent free cloth and this created a uneven texture over the piece. Next time just wipe off any excess with a paper towel and a carving this small can be dunked in the BLO, allowing no colors to be transported into the others.

[Blake Lunsford]

Thanks Mark! I appreciate your feedback....I was trying to work on the painting and eyes on this piece so it was really just practice....but I will definitely do that the next time. I got my paint a little thick on here also and may not have covered the entire piece.

I will take your advice and dunk it also and see if that gives me a better result. It's only about 4" tall.

Thanks again for your help!
Blake

[Donna_T]

Blake,
Something just occurred to me. Did you use oil paint to tint your BLO? Sometimes, when you don't get your oil paint dissolved really well before you add it to your BLO, it leaves stringy little blobs of paint in your BLO and that may be the source of your blotches.

When I'm making a batch of tinted BLO, I put a pea sized blob of burnt umber in the bottom of the jar, add a teaspoon or so of BLO, and mix the two really well to get the paint thoroughly dissovled before adding another tablespoon or so and working it well, then add all the rest of the BLO, shaking and /or stirring really well. And before I paint or dunk tinted BLO on a painted carving, I shake it well.

Another possible source of problems is if the oil on your hands soaks into the painted carving, it repels the final finish--but I don't think that it would account for the blotching that's on your carving.

Of course, none of these may be the culprit, but it's worth checking. If you see some stringy colors in your BLO, you could try straining it through a couple thicknesses of cheesecloth.

Good luck! I know it is frustrating to have a finish go bad on a carving that you've spent so much time on.

Donna T

[AlArchie]

I took a close up look at the carvings, and see what may be the problem.....it may not be your finishing process at all.

Looking at the last photo, it appears that there is a rough spot where some of the discoloration happened and on several of the cuts, there seem to be tears, rather than clean cuts. It may be that you knife isn't razor sharp, or perhaps the piece of wood was just a bit punky. Either one of these conditions would allow an uneven absorption of the blo, whether it be colored or straight.

You can ease both of these problems by applying a pre-stain stabilizer prior to painting. This will allow a more even absorbtion of paint into the fibers, and later, makes sure the finish is absorbed evenly. Or you may try putting on a good sanding sealer either before or after you do your painting. You won't get the same look of the paint if you put a sealer on first, but you will have a non porus surface to work with.

Also, some woods just finish splotchy! Pine and maple are notorious for this and basswood isn't far behind. The pre-stain conditioners help a lot here. Thin acrylic washes act a lot like stain so the fact that some bass, pine and maple stain up splotchy, may account for your problem.

Just a few thoughts.

Al

[AlArchie]

Just took another look at all the photos, and it looks to me like you had a punky piece of wood. Porus areas due to some fungal deterioration.

Al

[Blake Lunsford]

Donna and AlArchie......it is probably a little of both. I failed to wash the carving thoroughly, and I'm near the bottom of my BLO and it does have a little oil based paint in it. Additionally, the wood did seem a little rough and punky. The rough spot on the top may have been due to my knife, but I also had some difficulty around the nose, on the head, and around the eyes. It was probably a huge combination of all of them. All I can say is I will definitely take all of your advice into consideration on the next carving. I am also going to try poly or straight BLO for my finish. I'm going to do some "searching" this weekend at the Hickory show and see what I can come up with. Everyone down there usually has great information. I'm also taking Wayne Shinlever's class at the end of November so hopefully he can give me some tips.

Thanks again for your help!
Blake