Decoart antiquing/staining medium help

I have a general question regarding antiquing agent….where do you get it? the local art stores I’ve checked don’t seem to have any.

Wolfrott – I use DecoArt’s antiquing/staining medium (Americana Staining/Antiquing Medium) all the time on my pyos. I don’t mix equal parts though. I tend toward more of the medium than paint. I sort of play that with what consistency looks right. I haven’t tried to antique with cheaper paints, like folk art, so you may need to play around with the amount of paint vs. antiquing medium to get the correct consistency that works for you. I usually use Golden or Liquitex brand acrylics, occasionally using other paints for special effects. Depends on what I’m trying to achieve on a piece. 🙂 The medium itself will not change color. It becomes the color you apply to it. Some people just antique using paint. If you want to try some new things out, but don’t want to mess up a larger piece, try getting a PYO Muse or two. They have all the textures you would run into on a pyo (feathers, fur, scales of different sizes and types, etc.) and test out different methods on one. They also look a bit of a mish-mash in design, so can be fun to see what you end up with after paint and method testing! 😀

I use a lot of thin layers of paint, so I usually apply 1 coat of sealant over the paint first and let it dry before I antique, just so I don’t rub off any of the work I’ve already done. I apply the antiquing medium where I want it (not to thickly, but enough to get it where I want) and give it 2-3 minutes before wiping. Don’t want it to dry on there, but it will start to tacky, almost sticky feeling. Usually by the time I get done on one side of a small or medium sized pyo, and come back around, I can start wiping where I started applying the antique and work around in that order, so I don’t really have to ‘wait’ per say. I use a damp (not drippy) paper towel to wipe away the excess. If I wipe too much antiquing away and need to add more, you can touch up those spots with a smaller brush and re-apply the antiquing. If you are comfortable with doing tiny detail work, you could even touch up with the paint you are antiquing with using a tiny brush into those nooks and crannies. I use paper towel, and occasionally my finger for spots, instead of a sponge. I tried the sponge method and it didn’t really work for me and I find I have more control with a paper towel and can get into little spots easier with one.

Make sure the antiquing dries completely before applying sealant or anything else. I like to wait the better part of a day if my PYO has a good place to dry, like a radiator (I have old radiators at my house with covers on them, so you can actually sit on them) or out in the sun in the summer. I so prefer to give them a full day though, just to be on the safe side. If there is higher humidity, I may give two full days. If the piece is even slightly tacky, just let it dry fully.

For art supplies, I’m not sure what places are available in Australia specifically, but Dick Blick Art Materials (it’s named after the guy who started it, hence the funny name) is in the US and does ship internationally. I get most of my art supplies that I can’t get locally at the small independent art supply stores or one of the big craft stores near me from here.
http://www.dickblick.com/customerservice/international/

They don’t seem to have the DecoArt antiquing stain, but you could try Decoart’s website and see if one of their sellers will ship internationally (Decoart only ships to the US and Canada). http://www.decoart.com/Purchase/
The product is listed under ‘Mediums’ on the site. The other alternative is to have someone in the US or Canada pick up some for you and mail it to you.

Wolfrott, I think you might misunderstand what the antiquing medium does! All this really is, is a gel that dries more slowly, allowing you to add your paint color to it and apply it to your piece. It dries slowly, allowing you time to wipe it off of the areas where you don’t want it. That’s all it does. It doesn’t change color– you add the color that you want it to be.

Oh my! No, it shouldn’t be like Jelly. You should be able to paint it on like thick paint. It does sound like it got way too old at the store, or maybe a warehouse somewhere before they got it.

Essentially it works like thick paint. You want it to stick in the recesses, after turning it a darker color (via adding paint to it) than your PYO, so that it creates the antiqued look, like in the tutorial.