painting

[Perry Hilbert]

I have now made parts for four music boxes, entirely from bass. . I made the first over a year ago and never put it together because my painting skills are on a scale lower than getting tap water to room temperature. I have tried, straight acrylic paint, watered down acrylic paint, acrylic paint over a shellac sealer, watered down acrylic paint over a shellac sealer. Tried oil paints, tried dyes, tried things until I am pulling my hair out. The best finish so far was dipping the parts in watered down acrylic paint, but the surface was still quite rough and the color was flat, even though the paint was high gloss. .Accumulated the stuff to try an airbrush next. I would like to make a music box for each grandchild, but my painting skills have interfered and not improved a wit during the last year.

I have watched several videos about the music boxes and other toys being made and painted. Of course they do not explain the paint or process, just show some woman at a desk painting the 438th mustache of the morning. It doesn't show me much

 

[Mike Johnson]

Perry,

How on earth do you get paint to stick to a fish?
Like any other painting process you want to put down a good primer coat and make sure it is smooth before moving onto other top and finish coats.
Sometimes this requires several coats with sanding in between.

 

[John Torchick]

Mike beat me to it!

 

[Bill Boehme]

An acrylic finish can mean just about anything with the loose labeling used in paints these days and the amount of acrylic resin can vary between a lot to very little. There are water based acrylic paints such as acrylic latex paint, solvent based acrylic lacquer, and oil based acrylic urethane ... and probably others. Sometimes paint is labeled as acrylic enamel, but I don't think that there is a specific meaning for the word enamel other than meaning glossy.

Two things that you can usually say about acrylic finishes are that they are relatively fast drying and they are difficult to achieve a good smooth glossy coat.

If you are applying a water based acrylic finish then adding more water to thin the finish often speeds up the drying time which may not give enough time to allow the finish to level, but not thinning may also be a problem if it is too thick to level before it gets tacky.

Paint labeled as acrylic lacquer is often mostly nitrocellulose lacquer and there probably isn't any way to find out the exact composition.

Acrylic urethanes are often used for automotive finishes, but getting a high quality finish without flaws is far from easy and takes a lot of experience (meaning making mistakes) from what I have read.

If brushing the finish, don't use a cheap brush. Don't use a natural bristle brush with a water based finish. Don't overload the brush or apply a heavy coat. Proper brushing technique is critical.

Personally, I would just use rattle can Krylon or Rustoleum spray paint after using a primer as Mike suggested.

BTW, @Mike Johnson , I did paint a largemouth bass once ... during a short venture into amateur taxidermy. This was back when a kid could just stroll into any drug store and get carbon tetrachloride and formaldehyde right off the shelf. Nobody told me that I was supposed to wear rubber gloves so you could say that I got my hide tanned.

Perry, I didn't quite understand what you meant by the finish being glossy, but the color being flat. I am guess that the color wasn't vivid enough, but that is something that would be addressed by choosing a different color (primary red, blue, or green as opposed to a dark or pastel color).

 

[Perry Hilbert]

Sorry used high gloss water based acrylic hobby paint and the result was flat not even satin. I tried something new today. A coat of friction polish, let dry, sand back down, and coat again. dry and sand and coat a third time. Then I tried painting with the white water based acrylic and the paint went on so thin it barely hid the grain. However, I one piece that had three coats of friction polish into the chuck and while spinning, hit it with the oil based paint markers and the color took nice and smooth, But with out the white under the color, it seems much more dull.

 

[hockenbery]

Sorry used high gloss water based acrylic hobby paint and the result was flat not even satin. I tried something new today. A coat of friction polish, let dry, sand back down, and coat again. dry and sand and coat a third time. Then I tried painting with the white water based acrylic and the paint went on so thin it barely hid the grain. However, I one piece that had three coats of friction polish into the chuck and while spinning, hit it with the oil based paint markers and the color took nice and smooth, But with out the white under the color, it seems much more dull.

If you made the parts from basswood I think you will only get flat on the raw wood.

I’m a poor painter too, But I get results that are ok.
Often painted wood looks better with a finish on top of the paint.

I painted some pieces from Poplar using acrylic airbrush paint on raw wood. The porosity of the poplar gives a dull look to the color. 3-4 coats of Waterlox on top of the paint the colors become more vibrant.
I’m guessing you will see the same with basswood.
AIr brush acrylic orange sandcarve the turkey motif airbrush black then multiple coats

Airbrush acrylic paint on raw poplar sort of dull.

Airbrush paints come in opaque and transparent.
Above the orange, red and blue are transparent and she wood grain shows through.
The black above and green below are opaque.

Ornament - Finials Airbrush been acrylic paint on raw maple.
The ball was done by Sherry with archival ink on a camphor ball with a sealer.
Then a couple coats of lacquer.
Maple gives a better surface to paint than poplar.


Also
Milk paint is pretty reliable on raw wood but the colors are more like pastels.

 

[robo hippy]

One of my favorite paintings that my dad has came from a kid who painted one side of a blue gill, then pressed that onto paper. Not sure why, but I just liked it..... I don't know much about painting, but when having things painted for me, the painters didn't want surfaces sanded beyond 150 grit. You need a bit of coarseness to the surface for it to stick. Raising the grain first (wet. let the fiber pop, then sand down again) is required so it doesn't fuzz up through the paint. Other than that, I know nothing....

robo hippy

 

[Russell Nugent]

I usually just put the paint on a plate and use a different finger for each color.
I'm just as good at painting today as I was in kindergarten.

 

[John Torchick]

I usually just put the paint on a plate and use a different finger for each color.
I'm just as good at painting today as I was in kindergarten.

Shows what education can do for you. A friend said he learned more behind the schoolhouse than he did inside. I hate painting in the summer when the paint can says- Put on two coats.

 

[Bill Boehme]

... I hate painting in the summer when the paint can says- Put on two coats.

Or the finishes where the instructions say, "on previously painted surfaces, strip before using this product".

 

[hockenbery]

strip before using this product"

I usually ignore that and stay clothed.

 

[John Torchick]

Or the finishes where the instructions say, "on previously painted surfaces, strip before using this product".

Yuck! I'm getting a mental picture!