Airbrushing turned items
 

Hi all,

I know this may be a somewhat heretical idea to some but I've been
experimenting with airbrushing my turnings. Binh Pho makes a superb job of
it and I have to say that he's the main inspiration behind this although I
would never be able to aspire to his creative genius (I'm not being
sarcastic - I really do think his work is out of this world). Anyway, here's
the thing; I've been airbrushing acrylics onto a beech bowl with a
reasonable level of success apart from the fact that when dry the painted
area is incredibly rough - even though I "raised the grain" and sanded back
before applying the paint. Sanding back the painted area to make it smooth
simply removes the paint. Overcoating with an acrylic gloss coat simply
makes the whole thing very rough - as well as cloudy. Unperturbed, I scraped
all the paint off with the trusty bowl gouge and started again. This time I
didn't use the gloss coat on top of the acrylic colours - I used carnauba
wax instead to see what kind of effect that would produce. In a word, the
result was "awful". I can't work out how to produce a nice smooth, even
glossy, finish. Would it help if I applied cellulose sanding sealer first
and airbrushed on top of that? Any other ideas about what I can do to
achieve what I want (apart from totally abandoning this subversive obsession
and just letting the figure and beauty of the wood speak for itself!). If I
can nail this problem the design possibilities are practically limitless.

Thanks for all replies

Kind regards

Ron Headon
Swindon, England

Airbrushing turned items
 

Ron Headon wrote:
Anyway, here's
the thing; I've been airbrushing acrylics onto a beech bowl with a
reasonable level of success apart from the fact that when dry the painted
area is incredibly rough - even though I "raised the grain" and sanded back
before applying the paint.

I have no experience of airbrushing, or using acrylic paint, but here
are some questions that spring to mind:

Did you do minimum sanding with fine abrasive, like 400 grit, then clean
up with a tack cloth?

What happens if you just apply water rather than paint? This would tell
you how successful the grain raising/sanding has been. You may need to
repeat the operation.

What happens if you airbrush the acrylic on to another surface that
won't raise grain. This might indicate if the problem is in the paint or
spraying equipment / technique.



--
Derek Andrews, woodturner

http://www.seafoamwoodturning.com
http://chipshop.blogspot.com - a blog for my customers
http://www.seafoamwoodturning.com/TheToolrest/ - a blog for woodturners

Airbrushing turned items
 

you may have too much air going through for the amount of paint you are
getting. The paint is drying on its way to the surface. You may also want
to thin the paint a little. Also what others have said about prep.

Brian

Airbrushing turned items
 

Binh uses "metal acid dye - water base"
From Liberon supplies 800-245-5611

Walt



On Tue, 29 Nov 2005 17:22:49 -0000, "Ron Headon"
wrote:

Hi all,

I know this may be a somewhat heretical idea to some but I've been
experimenting with airbrushing my turnings. Binh Pho makes a superb job of
it and I have to say that he's the main inspiration behind this although I
would never be able to aspire to his creative genius (I'm not being
sarcastic - I really do think his work is out of this world). Anyway, here's
the thing; I've been airbrushing acrylics onto a beech bowl with a
reasonable level of success apart from the fact that when dry the painted
area is incredibly rough - even though I "raised the grain" and sanded back
before applying the paint. Sanding back the painted area to make it smooth
simply removes the paint. Overcoating with an acrylic gloss coat simply
makes the whole thing very rough - as well as cloudy. Unperturbed, I scraped
all the paint off with the trusty bowl gouge and started again. This time I
didn't use the gloss coat on top of the acrylic colours - I used carnauba
wax instead to see what kind of effect that would produce. In a word, the
result was "awful". I can't work out how to produce a nice smooth, even
glossy, finish. Would it help if I applied cellulose sanding sealer first
and airbrushed on top of that? Any other ideas about what I can do to
achieve what I want (apart from totally abandoning this subversive obsession
and just letting the figure and beauty of the wood speak for itself!). If I
can nail this problem the design possibilities are practically limitless.

Thanks for all replies

Kind regards

Ron Headon
Swindon, England

Airbrushing turned items
 

Hi Ron

I don't paint my turnings, however I do have some spray painting experience.
Get your initial wood surface as smooth as you can, than spray several
coats of paint on but let each coat dry a day or so, than you sand very
fine until smooth and spray some more coats on, after that sand until
you are satisfied with the finish going finer and finer.

Have fun and take care
Leo Van Der Loo

Ron Headon wrote:

Hi all,

I know this may be a somewhat heretical idea to some but I've been
experimenting with airbrushing my turnings. Binh Pho makes a superb job of
it and I have to say that he's the main inspiration behind this although I
would never be able to aspire to his creative genius (I'm not being
sarcastic - I really do think his work is out of this world). Anyway, here's
the thing; I've been airbrushing acrylics onto a beech bowl with a
reasonable level of success apart from the fact that when dry the painted
area is incredibly rough - even though I "raised the grain" and sanded back
before applying the paint. Sanding back the painted area to make it smooth
simply removes the paint. Overcoating with an acrylic gloss coat simply
makes the whole thing very rough - as well as cloudy. Unperturbed, I scraped
all the paint off with the trusty bowl gouge and started again. This time I
didn't use the gloss coat on top of the acrylic colours - I used carnauba
wax instead to see what kind of effect that would produce. In a word, the
result was "awful". I can't work out how to produce a nice smooth, even
glossy, finish. Would it help if I applied cellulose sanding sealer first
and airbrushed on top of that? Any other ideas about what I can do to
achieve what I want (apart from totally abandoning this subversive obsession
and just letting the figure and beauty of the wood speak for itself!). If I
can nail this problem the design possibilities are practically limitless.

Thanks for all replies

Kind regards

Ron Headon
Swindon, England

Airbrushing turned items
 

Binh also uses transparent airbrush colors from Golden. I just bought
some from him a few weeks ago.

I think Brian is correct. I use a lot of color with an airbrush. I
use mostly dyes, but acrylics will "splatter" leaving tiny bumps.
Thinner paint will flow better. Instead of water, however, choose an
airbrush paint extender to thin the acrylics. Generally, airbrush
paints, as opposed to tube acrylics, will flow better.

Joe Fleming - San Diego

Airbrushing turned items
 

In article ,
"Ron Headon" wrote:

Would it help if I applied cellulose sanding sealer first
and airbrushed on top of that?

No one addressed this so far, but I think this is the key if the problem
is truly raised grain. I'd also take a look at a super-blonde shellac as
the sealer. My thought would be to apply the sealer/shellac as the
primer coat, lightly sand it back to create a smooth surface and then
try the paint.

Anyone know if Binh uses any base coating prior to color?

--
Owen Lowe

Northwest Woodturners,
Cascade Woodturners,
Pacific Northwest Woodturning Guild
___
Tips fer Turnin': Pour your end-grain sealer into a clean, wide-mouth
clothes detergent bottle. The lid makes a handy dipping container for
your brush and the leftovers will drain back into the bottle when you
recap the jug.

Airbrushing turned items
 

I have been airbrushing using alcohol based leather dyes with good
success. Depending on the wood species I may wet the surface with water,
dry, and sand, but it's not always necessary. Never worked with beech, so
I don't know about that one. I seal the leather dye with a couple light
coats of spray can shellac - light coats so the dye doesn't run, shellac
is also alcohol based.

-mike paulson, fort collins, co

Airbrushing turned items
 

Owen, Binh sands to about 400 or 600 grit. During my class, we did not
raise the grain prior to color application. Also, no sealer goes down.

Joe Fleming -
San Dieog

Airbrushing turned items
 

In article . com,
"Joe Fleming" wrote:

Owen, Binh sands to about 400 or 600 grit. During my class, we did not
raise the grain prior to color application. Also, no sealer goes down.

Hi Joe. Offhand, do you know what wood(s) Binh uses? Could fuzzing/grain
raising be a function of the OP's use of beech? The acrylic paints my
daughter is using on spin tops is raising the grain of the hard maple...

--
Owen Lowe

Northwest Woodturners,
Cascade Woodturners,
Pacific Northwest Woodturning Guild
___
Tips fer Turnin': Pour your end-grain sealer into a clean, wide-mouth
clothes detergent bottle. The lid makes a handy dipping container for
your brush and the leftovers will drain back into the bottle when you
recap the jug.

Airbrushing turned items
 

Binh has mentioned Bradford pear as a favorite. It is light in color
and absolutely bland in every respect -- a blank canvas, as it were.

Bill

Owen Lowe wrote:
In article . com,
"Joe Fleming" wrote:


Owen, Binh sands to about 400 or 600 grit. During my class, we did not
raise the grain prior to color application. Also, no sealer goes down.


Hi Joe. Offhand, do you know what wood(s) Binh uses? Could fuzzing/grain
raising be a function of the OP's use of beech? The acrylic paints my
daughter is using on spin tops is raising the grain of the hard maple...

Airbrushing turned items
 

No ideas on the wood selection except for light colors, generally. We
used ash in my class. One guy had maple.