[oldbearx2]

I've been told that to make a face look like it has a 3 day growth of a beard to use a needle or smaller object to poke holes that would look like the beard. My problem is painting it to make the dark hairs show up. I've tried thin washes of dark paint, but it makes the entire face darker. HELP.

Have fun carve Harold

[susieq]

Try this on a scrap piece of wood first. I paint with acrylics and then use an oil paint based antique solution. I found out quite by accident that if after I paint, I then apply the Ceramcoat matte finish varnish (also acrylic) and let it dry good.....maybe a week or longer to let that shell of protection harden up, then the paints will not take the antique solution but any nooks and crannies will collect the antique solution showing your fine detail.

Personally I like the antiqued look which darkens the paint a bit.... I was to give a demo on this process but didn't have a painted piece to use in the demo. So, I grabbed an old carving I had painted and varnished several years prior and took it to the demo.....I was very embarrassed for the solution not to antique the finish as that was what I desired. But since you just want to show up your fine detail without darkening your paint job, give that a shot.

I antique with burnt umber oil paint mixed with a thinning solution called
Copal. It is sold in Michael's art supply stores in small bottles. I make mine pretty dark and thick but since you really just want to darken your details you could thin the oil paint a lot more than I do.

I never use an acrylic based antique solution on acrylic paints. I think it would adhere too much and muddy the paint job. If you look at the pieces on my website you will see the effect the oil based solution has on acrylics....remember that those pieces were not varnished first. But....the piece on my opening page...my first santa, is the varnished piece I tried to antique AFTER varnishing it. Big difference in the colors.