Help on Staining and Painting??

AlArchie · #1 03-23-2005, 02:17 PM

I just finished another twisty aspen stick, and from the end of the twists to the top, relief carved in a vine with "wild rose" type flowers. I wanted to paint the vine, leaves and blooms with watercolor (not acrylic) so the grain would show through, but didn't want the stain to overpower the colors, so I stained first with a solvent based stain. I thought that once the stain was dry, the watercolor would take into the wood ok, but it didn't quite work out like I figured......watercolor wanted to bead up on the surface. I mixed a touch of denatured alcohol with the water and it seemed to help, but I was wondering if anyone else had tried this and if so, would letting the stain dry for a couple days have made the watercolor a little more easily absorbed into wood?

Al

AlArchie · #2 03-23-2005, 10:09 PM

Well, I got it done...here's a couple pics. I'd still like to know if anyone has had luck with solvent stain followed by water color, and how long to let the stain dry before applying the watercolors.

Bandaid · #3 03-24-2005, 10:14 AM

Great looking cane Al.

Haven't had any experience with your water color technique, but L. Irish has an article on her site http://www.carvingpatterns.com using acrylic dry brushed over an oil stain. The problem I see with using her method would be that it would probably defeat your purpose of letting the grain show thru.

If you were to use a clear stain could you do the coloring first?...Reg

AlArchie · #4 03-24-2005, 01:16 PM

Thamks, Reg.

I'm thinking that if I do another one like this, I may use the water color on the carved vines, flowers and leaves, then use a small brush to apply the stain carefully around the painted portions. Or maybe a much lighter stain, or no stain at all. Guess a good clear sealer and poly would darken up the contrasting areas enough to make it ineresting. Time to experiment some more! Also have to get out and see if I can find some more of these twisty sticks.

Al