Antiquing Question!

If you apply any paint to plain gypsum and then try and wipe it, it will just stain whatever it touches as gypsum soaks up paint. The only way antiquing works is if you paint it on a painted surface so it will wipe off. Even then it can stain paint and be hard to wipe off sometimes unless you clear coat the paint first. I am just curious was there a reason to try antiquing something that wasn’t painted yet? I don’t think medium would make a difference or not if you apply it on plain gypsum.

Yes, you really can’t antique bare gypsum, it will just absorb the antiquing medium unfortunately. Gypsum is thirsty stuff!

Even on painted pieces, I usually clear coat before I antique – it makes it much easier to rub the excess antiquing medium off the piece without discoloring the places I don’t want antiqued. Then just clear coat again once the antiquing is good. 🙂

100% of the time I will clear coat before I antique.. I tried it once straight over paint and removed some paint in the process… clearcoating helps prevent that from happening. As for applying straight over bare gypsum, as everyone pointed out, the gypsum will soak in the antique, thats what makes Windstones so fun to tea/coffee stain… If you’re trying to preserve the gypsums white, clear coat first, probably not a bad idea to get a couple coats on it to avoid missing a spot 🙂

depends on how i am feeling. usally gac 100, 200 or 500 but sometimes afr with water. (golden)

Also, I have another random question! What is your favorite thing to thin your paint with? I’ve heard water is a no no, so what is your preferred medium/whatever to thin out thicker paints?

Golden Retarder is my favorite, though you can’t use a ton of it in paints or they will never dry. Still, the amount that I use when mixing paints is always perfect for me – it takes the thickest paints and thins them out to a nice, creamy texture that’s not too watery. 🙂

I’m glad this got brought up because I have a piece I wanted to antique but I’m SUPER happy with his paint job and have been too scared to mess him up so he’s been chilling out for months waiting for me to get brave.

I remember that fear! That’s why I got used to doing dry brushing effects, the “antique” look on my pieces is usually the base coat, then I can adjust my color over that a whole lot easier! lol… But when you do get brave, definitely clear coat! It helps assure you don’t stain the paint, and helps assure the paint stays on the Windstone XD I’d also personally recommend glossy clear coat for this step (even if you intend to satin/matte finish the final piece) cause the gloss will make it easier to wipe up the antique (Kind of like glossy painted walls are easier to clean than matte finish).. I also recommend antiquing patches of the piece at a time, not the whole thing at once… – That’s my .02 anyway 🙂