[Donna_T]

Hi all,
OK, here's one I've not pulled before. :-[

I carved a little boy on a rocking horse and when I antiqued the carving, it got darker on his face than I wanted. I painted with thinned acryllics and antiqued with antiquing medium, and then just rubbed it pretty good with the usual brown paper bag.

Now, after I've thought about it more and have done the obvious stewing, I have decided that I have too much time and effort in the carving to let it stay icky. How do I strip JUST THE FACE to redo it? I know I can paint over it, but then I've destroyed the washed look.

Anyone had this problem and solution? HELP!!! All advice welcomed!

Donna T

[Gergie]

Hi, I have no idea if this will work but try it on a scrap piece of wood first. apply bleach to the scrap with the finish and see what happens. I don't know how it will react to the acryllics? good luck!!!! Gergie,

Donna,
I dont know how you will strip the face alone I read the last post and I would be nervous about the bleach bleeding into the rest of the carving I really dont know how you could stop it doing that. My suggestion would be to take one of those cone sanders and try sanding just the face even then I am not sure if you could get into all the cracks with that.
good luck and be sure to let us know what works
Colin

[AlArchie]

I've had to redo several failed painting attempts, but have not been able to do just a small part of any of them. stripped the whole thing back and started all over. However, you might try using an old small brush and dabbing on some of that 'ZipStrip' or other paint remover, then going at it with a small scraper to remove the offending paint. I think the problem there will be getting the surface blended in as there will be a lowered portion where the old paint has been removed. Good LUCK! But I'd strip the whole thing down, or maybe just repaint the face and try a lighter antiquing on just the face.

Al

[Hi_Ho_Sliver]

there is a new environmentally safe paint stripper that supposedly won't hurt your hands etc and is a gel, that might work..the gel would be more apt to stay where you want it...sorry can't think of the name of it! :-/

Donna_T,

If you sealed the wood before painting and if the antiquing medium is acryllic ----- try using Q-tips and alcohol. a little alcohol on the Q-tip and rubbing in a circle may do the trick.
I have used this method to remove acrillic paint on a carving .
The carving had been sealed with a wood conditioner.

Good luck

Woody01

If the alcohol doesn't work try mineral spirits ... on a practice piece first.

Dave's suggestion with the gel stripper is what I would recommend. Apply it with a smal paint brush or q-tips, let it work a few minutes (acryllics won't take long) and carefully wipe or 'dab' it clean with a clean rag or alot of q-tips. If you take your time and don't rush, you shouldn't damage paint anywhere else on the carving.

MAKE SURE YOU HAVE GOOD VENTILATION!!!!!!
Do it outside if possible

Donna - Perhaps I should explain myself further: In general; well cured acrylics tend to be relatively impervious to mineral spirits, while many antiquing mediums are not. My hope was that with mineral spirits on a swab you could remove the antiquing medium (or at least lighten it enough to satisfy your needs) while leaving the underlying washes intact. Odorless mineral spirits are available if the odor is offensive (it certainly is to me).

[Callynne]

Donna, if it was me I think I'd try using denatured alcohol, putting some on a Q-tip and gently wiping at the face area. I used it years ago on some woodwork that I didn't want to actually strip, just to clean it up and it worked great. At that time I used it mixed with some hot water and Spic and Span but that was to clean off over a hundred years of dirt and grime. That's why I think maybe just using some straight might work.
If you can get enough off you can make a thin wash of a flesh color and go over your little boys face again, just to tint it back to more the color you want. Next time I'd try sealing it with a flat sealer before you antique it, I've started doing that and it works very well. Good luck, let us know what you decide and how it works out! Callynne