I'm working on a "art piece" and am wanting to color it a very glossy black. I'm planning to use a lacquer over the top of everything. I'm using basswood for the piece and DO want to absolutely obscure the wood underneath. The thing should look deep dark black. Any ideas of what to use to color it before I use the lacquer?
I've thought of dyes and black lacquer (thus, saving me a step) but I'm not sure that these will be really really black. Maybe an enamel? How does enamel work under lacquer? Any ideas are welcome....
Don't bother. Just start spraying with black lacquer, many coats, and rub it out. You may want to lay down a few coats of primer/sealer first, and sand with 400 before adding the lacquer. I would use automotive acrylic lacquer and its proper primer/sealer. Dan
Black artist's acrylic (probably easiest to thin what comes out of the tube with a bit of water) will obscure the wood figure. My guess is that you could spray lacquer over it w/o problems (I have used oil/varnish over it), but I'd test a piece first.
I don't understand. Why paint black paint over black paint??? And, I know from experience that the lacquer thinner in the lacquer paint is a very effective acrylic paint remover. ;)
if you put laquer over enamel, it will cause the enamel to wrinkle - probably not the effect you want. I'd put on a layer or two of laquer based primer/sealer (any color will do) and sand it until it's perfectly smooth (work up to about 600) and then about 5 or 6 coats of black laquer - then sand to 600 and put on about 3 more coats, sand to 600, spray a coat of pure SLOW laquer thinner, let it dry and then polish with automotive polish, then wax. this will give you a very deep black like seen on the best cars. Be sure there is no slicone anywhere near your equipment when spraying though, and eschew the spray cans
william_b_noble wrote: If you put laquer over enamel, it will cause the enamel to wrinkle - probably not the effect you want (clip) ^^^^^^^^^^^^ There is no reason to apply lacquer over enamel in this situation. The procedure Bill has outlined sounds like it is based on his experience with cars--car collectors and restorers achieve a very high level of finish.
Don't fall into the trap of applying coats of clear lacquer over the black lacquer. It may look like you're getting a deeper finish, but any little scratches from handling later will appear white against a black background.
BTW, if you ever do have to apply lacquer over enamel, for whatever reason, mist on many very thin coats of lacquer, allowing the solvent to evaporate between coats. This will build up a "barrier"coat of dry lacquer between the enamel and the wet lacquer.
I'm no expert in opaque finishes, but my limited experience with trying to get high quality, high gloss painted surfaces makes me glad that most of what I do is with nicely figured wood that looks best with clear finish. An adequate paint job is, IMHO, a whole lot harder to achieve than a comparable clear finish.
You are probably far higher on the learning curve for this stuff than I am, but FWIW here goes:
With opaque finishes, surface prep is everything (especially with high gloss). Use some sort of putty to fill in every dent and ding you can find and then go back and do it again after the first couple of coats of finish have been applied.
I would also use pigment (paint or pigmented laquer)rather than dye. No matter how many coats of dye you put on, the finish is, at least theoretically, still transparent. A pigmented paint will mask any figure completely.
This may not be a problem for you, but it is for me with my world-class level of finishing incompetence. I may be mistaken, but I believe that acrylic lacquers behave much like varnishes at the interface between successive coats. That is, if you sand through your top coat into the one beneath it the boundary between the two coats will be very obvious. Solvent based finishes like nitrocellulose or shellac will melt together and not present this problem.
Fine Woodworking has done several articles over the years on painting wood and wood products, so you might want to check them out.
I am going to stay away from any specific recommendations as to type of finish. Just be sure of compatability among/between components. That said, Zuckerman Harpsichords
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sells a productfor painting the cases of their 17th century style harpsichord kitsfor use as a first coat called Interlux Sanding Surfacer Paint. Ihaven't used it yet, but will when I get around to painting myharpsichord case. I have no idea what the base for this stuff is, butit is a boat finishing product. If you are interested in checkingthis out get in touch with Zuckerman or email me direct and I'll sentyou their instructions for use.If I'm headed down the wrong trail here, someone please let me know. Knowing now may save me a few headaches sometime down the road. Bill
For a deep, dark black, try a coat of stove blacking. I think it's alcohol based, so you can probably put laquer or anything else over it. 'Course, I'd try it out on a sample piece, first.
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Of course I will. I picked up some stuff just today and am going to clear off some space in my finishing room for the experiment this weekend. Hopefully, I can get good enough pictures to accurately relay the results.
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