[BrandantR]

I was wondering what everyone does to cover up glue joint lines when they paint their carvings. I paint with thinned out acrylics because I like the wood grain to show through, but it does not do a very good job of covering up the glue joints in my projects since the paint is so thin and does not absorb into the glue. Does anyone have a good technique on covering up these trouble spots? I thought about using paint straight out of the bottle on the joints, but that would just leave a dark spot on the carving wouldn't it? I would appreciate some words of wisdom from the more experienced painters.

[Hi_Ho_Sliver]

If you leave a bit of extra wood at the points where its glued, you can carve those areas and the line is extremely small..

[Lynn O. Doughty]

Dave's right. A good join where the two pieces are nice and flat will leave a line that's barely noticable. I try to hide my joins by making the line at the bottom of a fold or along the seam of a shirt or maybe where a vest meets a shirt. If all else fails once the piece has been painted and varnished you can go back with some more color and blend out the line.

[BrandantR]

Gentlemen, thanks for your replies. I do keep extra wood to carve off when I make my joints and I make sure that the joining surfaces mate up as perfectly as possible. My glue lines are very small and no one seems to notice them (except for me of course). I was hoping for a miracle technique to make the lines vanish away, but alas I will just have to try to hide them as best I can.