Creative Woodworks & crafts 2004-01, страница 53

by Gory L. Fenwick

is the most important part of the entire painting process. v;||| You must have a stable base before you begin to build ;..:J| the color layers. In painting, remember that every color j§|| you apply is somewhat influenced by the colors under-neath. This is because the light passes through the layer, and is reflected back up through the color layers and to ' your eyes. So a good first layer is important. Some carvers | simply use a can of spray lacquer primer from the auto ||| shop. Since we are painting a bright fish, you would want ||| to use a white primer. Apply a couple of coats to ensure .)§H that you have a good base. Let it dry between coats and jS thoroughly before applying color. This is the best base if , JiH you are going to paint with lacquers.

Since I use acrylics, the basecoat I prefer is Artist's Gesso. This is ground mineral in an acrylic base. It is the material that is applied to an artist's canvas before paint-ing. It provides a good, stable undercoat with what they call a "tooth" to hold the layers above. As you purchase it, it is too thick to work well. If you want, you can brush it |||| on straight, but the results will be less than what you are ''£§ looking for. It works best to thin it. Since it is an acrylic, you can use plain tap wafer. You want to thin it fo the consis- 'iff! tency of milk. That is fairly thin. After thinning, either brush it Oh or use gn airbrush,,In either case you will need four to

PHR

Introduction

| In the (previous) November '03 issue, we covered how to ' make the plaque and carve the fish. In this part, we will cover the painting and finishing.

; Seal and basecoat

After sanding everything to a smooth finish, we need to seal the wood. Although we have already raised the grain . and sanded it down, if you use a water-base acrylic paint, : the grain can rise again. This effect will ruin the smooth fin-& ish we are looking for. The best sealer is a clear lacquer. |^:The best source for this is an auto paint supply store. Just | purchase about a pint of clear lacquer and a gallon of | thinner and thin the lacquer about one to one.

Coat the carving with the thinned lacquer. You can either use an airbrush or a medium artist's brush. I prefer to ruse the artist's brush. It is less trouble to clean up and you fvdon't have to have a lot of explosive vapors floating | around your work area. Paint it on fairly thick, let it set for a | few minutes, then wipe it off with a clean rag. This will pre-vent the lacquer from building up in the fine detail. Let the lacquer dry for several hours before proceeding.

Next we need to build a good basecoat. This basecoat

...........................: , .