Need a little help with a color fill project

[Albert Nix]

Hi I am tring color fill for the first time and I am having a little problem.
I know there are a lost of earlier post on the subject and I read most of them. But I would like to take a pole. The plaque that I am working on has text some graphics and border lines around it all. I tried filling using a gold metalic acrylic from laserbits applied with a small brush. By the time I made it from top to bottom it was dry around the edges and gummy in the center of the heaver text. What I need know is how deep do you engrave in wood to fill. Also what is the best way to apply the paint. Is it best to work a small area at a time and how must do I let it dry before I try to remove the residue. I also wunder if the metalic would work better if I thinned it a little.
Thanks:
Al

[Joe Pelonio]

I use transfer tape as a mask, engrave through it, then remove after the paint has dried, with little or no residue of bleeding if the paint is not too thin and the wood has a finish on it before starting, car wax or a clear poly.

Your method should work too, if you have gone deep enough and use a damp paper towel, folded so you have a flat edge to wipe off the excess.

I use acrylic mostly for wood, some people like to use rub'n'buff but it comes in a limited number of colors.

[Darren Null]

I normally aim for about 1mm or less for normal sized stuff (up to 48-point text, say) and go a bit deeper for larger areas.

Applying paint, there's 2 methods that I've got to work for me so far:
1) Spray the lot with acrylic car paint and clean the excess off with WD40 immediately
2) Using 'artists' acrylic paint from tubes, I apply it with a tiny trowel that I found in an artists shop. It has a decorating brush-sized handle and the spring steel trowel on the end is about 1/2" in the long dimension, but otherwise shaped exactly like a diamond-shaped builder's trowel. The trowel was a real find...up till then I'd tried brushes, toothpicks, matches, tiny little screwdrivers...you name it, with limited success. With one of these beauties, the technique is very similar to plastering, with the important difference that your level is already found for you, so it's easier. Swipe the paint across, and then just scrape off the excess. You'll need a light touch with wood to avoid scratches, but it works fine. €3 and it has changed my life. A bit. This is the sort of thing (random googling for the item, so it's not an endorsement because I've never bought anything from them. It is cheaper than mine was darn it!):
http://www.saa.co.uk/artsupplies/small-pointed-trowel-shaped-painting-knife-40--973761.html
Because you're scraping up pretty well all the excess, cleaning is a lot easier. And you use less paint.

With the former method, remove the excess immediately, with the latter wait for it to dry completely. Also, if you're buying artists acrylic paint, don't bother with the 'water soluble' stuff...it's very expensive and it takes *DAYS* to dry.

[Albert Nix]

Do you try to end up with paint built up to the same level as the wood around it?

[Darren Null]

Yeah. The car paint sinks a little as it dries, but doing the trowel thing the paint ends up exactly flush. EDIT: Although I suspect that different brands of paint will shrink different amounts as it dries. The stuff I'm using at the moment stays where it's put.

[Albert Nix]

Thanks !! I will give it another try tomorrow.
Al

[Darren Null]

See if you can find a little artists trowel. $3 and it makes such a difference. Best money I've ever spent, with the possible exception of a digital micrometer...when I whip that out, the customer knows there's some *SCIENCE* about to happen and gear themselves up to be charged accordingly.
=8-)

[Carrol Fleming]

One of my "Jack of all trades" hobbies is that I paint, mainly watercolour but I have had a brief, not very successful, foray into acrylic. I now use the acrylic paints for colour fills but, in my art box resides a wonderful pallet knife, just as described by Darren ..... have I tried it yet? :rolleyes: Will I try it now? :D Thanks Darren for waking me up to something that was right under my nose!!

[Mike Null]

Depending on the surface, a stiff card like a business card might be better for spreading and leveling the paint. If it's a glossy surface the palette knife can scratch.