Painting question

[Kristen]

I use acrylics, retardant, GAC 100 medium, and like, one or two drops of water. Seems to work for me (though I have problems with getting it off of the main part of the color, and still keeping it in the recesses… it’s a pain in the… umm… And I find if you do a little bit at a time, then it doesn’t dry too fast on you.

Sometimes I seal, sometimes not. The last two I did I didn’t seal because I didn’t want to carry them all the way out to the deck to seal them. 😆 Yup, I’m lazy. I seal with Krylon spray I think it’s satin finish. So somewhere between matte and glossy, I need to see if I got everywhere without making it ridiculously shiny.

[Purplecat]

Kyrin wrote:

Interesting that some folks have had blotching issues, I never have…though I do tend to basecoat too, but not always. I’ve found that a light coat of paint in any color you choose works just fine.

My $.02 about primer, the more paint you layer on a PYO, the more details you lose, so I would primer it in a color you plan to build on, so you don’t end up with too many layers of paint.

An example would be the kirin I just finished for KitsuneLady, she was base coated in the soft ivory color that is her main color.

Kyrin

I was reading everyone’s replies…and this mirrors what I would have said. 😀

[Shawna]

purplecat wrote:

Kyrin wrote:

Interesting that some folks have had blotching issues, I never have…though I do tend to basecoat too, but not always. I’ve found that a light coat of paint in any color you choose works just fine.

My $.02 about primer, the more paint you layer on a PYO, the more details you lose, so I would primer it in a color you plan to build on, so you don’t end up with too many layers of paint.

An example would be the kirin I just finished for KitsuneLady, she was base coated in the soft ivory color that is her main color.

Kyrin

Great minds think alike and all that! 🙂

Kyrin

I was reading everyone’s replies…and this mirrors what I would have said. 😀

[sumrsnow]

Lokie wrote:

I know that paint doesn’t like to behave as well on glossy services, so I’m not sure how easy it is to antique on a PYO that was sealed with a gloss finish. Maybe members who have more experience sealing before antiquing will chime in.
Yeah, I think it would be better to use a matte or satin.
I’ve learned that if you seal your paintwork with Krylon and then put paint on top of that, you can fix mistakes and erase with rubbing alcohol really easily. It doesn’t hurt the finish at all. I suppose it could if you rubbed really hard or put a lot of alcohol on though. I just use a Q-tip to clean up mistakes. This is for acrylic paint, btw.

[Jennifer]

Windstone, as far as I know, does not use a primer of any sort. As they work nearly completely with airbrushes, they just layer paint on that way. They do often paint the pieces black before adding color though- the lovely paints they use do different things when places over dark vs. light surfaces.

Personally, most of my earlier work was straight up painted with brushes… no base coat or primer. Now, to try and save time (my old pieces used to take 40+ hours!! Yikes!) I do airbrush a coat of white or a light color onto them- no details or shading, just a light solid color to paint on top of with brushes.

You can antique without sealing. I always do. It takes some bravery though!

You can also antique on top of a sealant as long as the sealant is acrylic based (such as krylon’s clear sprays). Melody has done this before. It does work! Glossy is easier to antique on top of, because the bits of antique don’t get muddied into the rougher textures of satin or matte. It can be done on satin or matte, just use care.

If antiquing on top of a sealant, be sure the sealant has had time to dry for at least 48 hours– depending on your climate! It should be hard, cool, and smooth to the touch. Never even slightly sticky or tacky. If you antique on top of a tacky finish the acrylics will try to bond– there is a chance the antique will stick to it and not wipe off.

Hope this helps!

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[Kristen]

That helps me…. haha, I don’t think I was letting it dry long enough, and I probably should have used a gloss coat. However, lately I’ve been antiquing on top of just the paint… so that parts a non-issue. I should let it dry for longer though….

[Tara]

I’ve got another painting question.
I’ve been having problems with small spots of paint peeling off or some areas rubbing off if I handle it very much so I’m constantly having to touch up. I tried to handle the statue very little before I got a base coat on it. I have tried to follow all the tips I could find to prevent the paint from peeling and have even tried latex gloves(which made matters worse, the paint sticks to the gloves even worse than my fingers) It seems that the heat from my hands as I hold the dragon causes the dry(1-7days) paint to get soft and peel off in small spots ever now and then while I’m working on the fine details. Does anyone have any tips to prevent the paint (I’m using liquitex) from coming peeling/rubbing off?

[twindragonsmum]

Any idea how ‘old’ your paint is? Has it been stored in a spot (like an unfinished basement) where it could’ve gotten too cold or hot? I had probs with my paint never really drying… It had gotten frozen during our move to Idaho which caused it to seperate; didn’t stay mixed together after that and stayed ‘tacky’ and sticky forever. Ended up having to toss it 🙄

twindragonsmum 😀

tdm

[WindstoneCollector]

sumrsnow wrote:

Thanks for all of the great replies! It looks like the Windstones do well with any kind of basecoat, which is great!
This will be a lot of fun for me….I’ll get to do something in beautiful flowery colors which is a big change from “horse” colors. 😀
I’ll definitely be out of my box. LOL!
Does anyone use PearlEx powders?

I have, but I moved so the Griffin never got finished…One day I hope he makes it to the finish line. LOL
I like the pearlex powders though. 😀
Here’s my attempt…

[twindragonsmum]

😯 Wowzer! He’s lovely! How did you get the powders to ‘stick’?

twindragonsmum 😀

tdm

[WindstoneCollector]

I found out they show very well on a black background. The black acryllic was pretty dry when I did it, but slightly tacky. I even aked Nam about it first. I did find they don’t stick well for me on a blank sculpt. 😯 He will be up for grabs when he makes it to the finish line. 😉 LOL

[twindragonsmum]

I have some Pearl-Ex but I’m chicken to use ’em so far 😳 Wanna come hold my hand when I get brave enough to try?

twindragonsmum 😀

tdm

[WindstoneCollector]

Why not? 😆 (I had them for 2 months before I got enough guts to use them. 😯 )

[frozendragon]

with the pearlex, you can mix it with a brush on sealer and it will kind of go on like paint.. but it has to be thinned down a lot… also on the box I got it suggested using gum arabic to mix with the powders, which basically makes it an acrylic paint..

I haven’t tried that because gum arabic is very expensive.. 😯

those are examples of ones I’ve used pearlex powders on..

[WindstoneCollector]

Oooooo…I like that Griffin too. But I like mine better! (The one you painted for me that is. 😳 )

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