[Woodcarver] Staining Basswood

[Classic Carving Patterns]

Hi Mary Jo,

Please, it's Susan to all of my friends!  The only ones who call me Ms.
Irish are telemarketer's that are doing those fake survey phone calls
that turn into selling phone calls :)

Staining basswood can be tricky because of the very fine grain of the
wood.  Stains tend to grab hard and over saturate the wood so that you
end up with one solid dark color instead of nice stained accents in the
carved lines with lighter tones on the high area of the carving.  Before
you do anything I suggest doing a small practice piece first.  If the
staining does not come out the way you want it to you have only lost a
small piece, not your major carving.

So get a small piece of basswood, do a simple carving that has some
texture, some high areas, and some detailing.  Usually I will seal the
wood first with a spray polyurethane, several light coats to build up a
nice coating.  Remember to turn the piece with each spraying ... One
time spray with the piece upright, the next time upside down, then maybe
another time across the diagonal.  This insures that every area gets at
least one or two coats of polyurethane.

Allow it to dry well, I usually stain the day after I seal the work.  I
use an oil finish and do a little area at a time, working quickly.  It's
sort of brush and wipe right away sort of thing.  When everything has
been stained you can use a little turp on the rag to dress up the
carving blending any areas where one section of staining didn't quite
blend into another section.  Let this dry well ... Again at least a
day's worth.

You can now use your oil paints to add color and someone on the digest
shared a wonderful technique for applying acrylics over an oil base
stains that is really great. My variation of their idea is posted at
http://www.carvingpatterns.com\projects\drybrushing.htm

Hope this helps.

Susan (Irish)

Carving Patterns Online
Designs Online Since 1997!
Classic Carving Patterns By L.S.Irish
http://www.CarvingPatterns.com
http://www.WoodCarvingPatterns.com


-----Original Message-----
From: woodcarver-bounces at six.pairlist.net
[mailto:woodcarver-bounces at six.pairlist.net] On Behalf Of mary jo tiger
Sent: Thursday, October 07, 2004 12:27 PM
To: Woodcarver at six.pairlist.net
Subject: [Woodcarver] (no subject)


To make a DONATION to the Mailing List using PayPal OR regular mail,
click this link: http://wwwoodcarver.com/WWWList/WWWList.html

Hi All, I have a question;I'm doing a relief carving of an Elk and a
large 
twisted cedar tree,it's one of the patterns on  Ms. Irishs website.I'm 
almost done and I don't know whether to stain it or to color it.Is there
any 
way I can stain it and then paint over it if I don't like the
results.The 
carving is on basswood.HELP! Mary jo


_______________________________________________
Woodcarver mailing list
Woodcarver at six.pairlist.net
http://six.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/woodcarver