Pre-treat when painting?

[Dkulhanek]

Just for the record, I am rather new at this and I don't know if this is an obvious question or not. For years I have been a chip carver, and I always put a coat of Minwax Pre-Stain Conditioner on my pieces before staining them. This smooths out the stain and helps it soak in a lot better and evenly. I am starting to make the move into figurine and Santa carvings which would be painted rather than stained. My question is, do I still need to pre-treat the wood, and if so, is what I'm using right now ok for paint, or is there another conditioner to use?

[Hugh-P]

I'm not too familiar with the pre stain, but you will have to seal the wood, and I'm sure that the pre stain would not do that.
We use sealers that are not supposed to raise the grain. some are better than others. After sealing the carving, its often necessary to fine sand the wood, as there is invariably a little bit of fuzz or grain raised. Hope this helps.

[kdispoto]

Ahh - another Santa carver joins the team !!!

The answer to your question is sort of subjective. Were you looking for a wash (thinned acrylic) paint look or a opaque (solid) paint look? I've tried many varieties and haven't settled on one way.

If the wood is grainy/knotty I usually go solid. For these I paint full strength acrylic paint right onto the wood (no preteatment). If I'm looking for a washed look - I either presoak the wood in water or other times presoak in Watco Danish oil. Each method will give a different appearance.

My advice is to try as many ways as you can - there no rules as to what finish "should be" on your Santas. It's all about how you want it to look /

If you see a Santa somewhere (new/old) on this forum that you like - post a question to the author - most of us love sharing our techniques.

Happy Santa carving

ps - in return - we'd love to see photos of your work someday.

[Irish]

Pre-treating is an excellent step before staining or painting since it does, as you noted, give you more control over the color being used. There are a few common techniques.

When you plan to stain the wood you can use a sanding seal or conditioner. Sanding seal is a variation of a brush-on finish that is meant to raise the grain ends. Once it has dried, about an hour, the work is sanded to remove those fibers. Several coats are recommended with a sanding in between each and a last, very thin coat before the stain is applied. Buffing the last coat with crumbled brown bag ... grocery bag ... usually leaves a nice, smooth finish.

If I am using water based dyes I will start the process by brushing two or three coats of water to the carving first, letting each soak in well. I do that just as if I were applying paint. Usually the first coat is worked with the piece upright in my hands, the second with the piece held upside down and the third with the piece on an angle. That insures that I have worked the water into every little cut. The dampness in the wood now lets the water dye move on the carving instead of grabbing.

BLO, boiled linseed oil can be mixed half and half with turpentine and used a base for oil based stains. The turpentine thins the BLO enough that it does not get so thick in the cuts that it becomes tacky. I apply the mix with a brush, let it set for a few minutes then wipe it down with a cloth. A couple of coats is enough to let my oil stains move instead of grabbing.

There are several fine ground oils that come from oil painting on canvas that can also be used as sunflower or walnut oil. These can be mixed in the same manner as BLO but more often I use these to mix with my oil paints to create the actual staining color.

When you use any oil based coloring or product dispose of the dirty rags and newspapers by submerging them in a can of soapy water, store the can outside and away from your shop or basement because of the fire hazard concerns.

With acrylic paints a base coat or primer is often used. Primer coats are thinned with water to insure that they penetrate the wood, so several coats are applied to get an even coloring. You can lightly sand each primer coat to keep it as smooth as possible. Primers do not need to be white, you can use any medium toned neutral color to seal the wood. So if I want a bright red on my Santa I use a grey primer but if I want bright blues and greens in a landscape I might prime with a medium blue.

If you want to use your acrylics as a stain instead of for full coverage you can prep the carving with several coats of water, just as with the water dyes.

So, yes, you are on the right track ... pre-treating the wood give you much more control over the stain or color application.

Susan

[Bob K.]

I have used a 50:50 mixture of Shellac and water in the past. Lately I have been using a 50:50 mixture of Boiled Linseed Oil and Mineral Spirits.

[Dkulhanek]

Thanks for all the great advice! I'll start a thread over in the Holiday carving section and show my prelim photos. I can see why they are addicting. There are just so many options with Santas!

[Terry Murphy]

Meet you over there.

[Robson Valley]

The best way to see the potential of "wet-in-wet" painting with acrylic washes is against a white background. Go to your local library and sign out a couple of watercolor painting instruction books. They are usually lavishly illustrated, particularly those from Watson Guptill Press.
On paper, the paper has to be presoaked to stretch then taped down to dry so it won't buckle when wetted again. I like that I don't need to do that for wood!