Step by step prep for paint

[rmessick]

I am sure thi has been done before but I can not seem to find it. I have finished. Basswood carving that I would like to paint. I figure I will use some acrylic paint for my first attempt. I know some of you wash your carvings, I will need to, so what do I use and will I have to sand.

Will I need to seal the carving first, and what do I use.

I read that I need to thin the paint is that needed if I do not want the wood to show?

Please keep in mind that I am new to this, so any insight is well appreciated

[Robson Valley]

You need some scrap for tests. Different brands of acrylic artists' paints have different "covering power" Stevenson, daVinci and Grumbacher are quite solid colors, straight out of the tubes.. Binney/Liquitex (in tubes) are thin to the point of me needing 3-5 coats on cedar to hide the wood. Solid white undercoat on top of 3X yellow then 4X with the yellow. again!
OTOH, I have some 8oz jars of Liquitex acrylics, just fine. They should sell the same stuff in tubes.

[Claude]

I use a bar of white hand soap and an old toothbrush. Rinse the carving under the faucet to get it wet, scrub all the dirt and pencil marks with the brush, then rinse again. You can then let it air dry, or you can use a hair dryer for a minute or two, which is what I do.

I use the acrylic paints from Michaels craft sore - brand is not important to me. If you don't want wood grain to show, use the paint right from the bottle. If you want the grain to show, dilute with water. Light colors, I dilute about 1 part water to 1 part paint; dark colors such as black, maybe 15 parts water to 1 part paint; medium colors somewhere in between. When in doubt, err on the too thin - you can always give it a second coat. Paint white first, then other light colors, then medium, then dark at the end (easy to cover white with black, but not the reverse)

I also like to seal the wood before painting to reduce the bleed-over of a color into an area where I don't want it. I generally use a water-based satin varnish (same aisle as the paint) and thin it 1 to 1 with water. The end grain areas may need 3 or 4 coats as it soaks right in. This will help keep the color from soaking into the end grain later and appearing much darker than other areas.

If you have a wood burner (which I don't), you can burn a line between areas where you don't want the paint to bleed-over.

Save the cutoffs from sawing out your basic shape and use these scraps to test various paint colors/thinning before you paint the carving.

Claude

[BeaverDon]

Try looking at some of the videos on outwestwoodcarving.com. There you can find some great suggestions on how to get a good paint job. There are lots of way to approach painting. Some people soak the wood. I don't. I paint on dry wood after sanding to at least 220 grit and clean it good with a brush or some bursts of air. I thin the paint a little most time, with some clan water, but you don't have to. Some brands are thick and really need to be thinned in my opinion.

[Dileon]

I normally use BLO and then paint, sometimes I just paint,.....sometimes I will use a sanding sealing.

[MC297]

You will find several ways to paint your projects. Jo Sonja paints are a very good medium to try, and you may wish to use Gesso as a base or primer. The techniques and paint that you use may depend upon the project. Try several brands and develope your own style, and most of all enjoy.

Michael