"Rob Morley" wrote in message
Paint it with a lighter red/yellow/brown colour then apply a dark
scumble glaze and texture it to get the wood-grain effect. Finish
with two or three coats of varnish. Or if you want more of a candy
effect maybe paint it white then apply a couple of coats of tinted
varnish?

All the ideas sound plausible ... though I don't know how well I'd do the
grain combing bit. Might pop down to a specialist paint store and see what
they have to suggest or if they can demonstrate.



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