Hello,

I've finished an a&C bookcase. It's QS whie oak that has been fumed with
ammonia, a coat of oil and then 2 coats of shellac. I want to apply a coat
of colored wax to fill the pores and give a darker tone. What is the best
way to color paste waxes: aritist colors perhap? Any ideas would be
greatly appreciated.

tks

Adam

On Mon, 14 Jul 2003 06:59:22 -0400, "Adam Kropinski"
wrote:

What is the best way to color paste waxes: aritist colors perhap?

Almost anything. I use artist's acrylics for epoxy, but for waxes I
use ochre pigments (locally mined). They come in a range of colours
from yellow to black (or even purple) and can be intermixed. Very
stable too.

For a wax I use my usual beeswax & turpentine recipe. It's important
to add a touch more ammonia if re-melting it to colour it, otherwise
the ochre tends to settle out on cooling.

I don;t use this on oak (maybe I'll start doing it, depending on the
timber) but I do like brown ochre in wax on ash, for semi-rustic stuff
like Windsor chairs. It highlights the open grain of the growth rings
nicely, but doesn't colour between the rings. I then use a clear wax
with carnauba over the top.

"Adam Kropinski" wrote in message
...
Hello,

I've finished an a&C bookcase. It's QS whie oak that has been fumed with
ammonia, a coat of oil and then 2 coats of shellac. I want to apply a
coat
of colored wax to fill the pores and give a darker tone. What is the best
way to color paste waxes: aritist colors perhap?

I can't say it's the best way, but I've mixed burnt siena or VanDyke brown
artist paint(oil based) with Johnson's paste wax and used it. And then there
colored waxes available(i.g.
http://shop.woodcraft.com/Woodcraft/...5Fid=7263&gift
=False&mscssid=9E62F017F64446778E735E63A6B7A9EC )

Larry

--

Lawrence L'Hote
Columbia, MO
http://www.wood-workers.com/users/llhote/
http://home1.gte.net/llhote/index.htm

Wanna try show polish. . .

--
SwampBug
---------------------
"Andy Dingley" wrote in message
...
On Mon, 14 Jul 2003 06:59:22 -0400, "Adam Kropinski"
wrote:

What is the best way to color paste waxes: aritist colors perhap?

Almost anything. I use artist's acrylics for epoxy, but for waxes I
use ochre pigments (locally mined). They come in a range of colours
from yellow to black (or even purple) and can be intermixed. Very
stable too.

For a wax I use my usual beeswax & turpentine recipe. It's important
to add a touch more ammonia if re-melting it to colour it, otherwise
the ochre tends to settle out on cooling.

I don;t use this on oak (maybe I'll start doing it, depending on the
timber) but I do like brown ochre in wax on ash, for semi-rustic stuff
like Windsor chairs. It highlights the open grain of the growth rings
nicely, but doesn't colour between the rings. I then use a clear wax
with carnauba over the top.

On Mon, 14 Jul 2003 13:06:13 GMT, "Lawrence L'Hote"
wrote:

I can't say it's the best way, but I've mixed burnt siena or VanDyke brown
artist paint(oil based) with Johnson's paste wax and used it.

Just a point on artist's colours - they're not always the same.

"Van Dyke" is made from walnuts (You can buy the raw stuff in kilo
quantities from Liberon - cheap too) "Burnt sienna" is a mineral
ochre. Both of these are millenia-old pigments that are proven to be
stable over time.

But if you buy the cheapest set of paints from a local craft shop,
then you've no idea what you're getting. Many of them now contain
synthetic dyes of uncertain (or even well known) instability. This is
a serious issue with some artists and archival-grade conservators.

On Mon, 14 Jul 2003 06:59:22 -0400, "Adam Kropinski"
pixelated:

Hello,

I've finished an a&C bookcase. It's QS whie oak that has been fumed with
ammonia, a coat of oil and then 2 coats of shellac. I want to apply a coat
of colored wax to fill the pores and give a darker tone. What is the best
way to color paste waxes: aritist colors perhap? Any ideas would be
greatly appreciated.

Briwax and others make wax for dark woods, so go that
route for waxing. But why fill the pores?

--
"Not always right, but never uncertain." --Heinlein
-=-=-
http://www.diversify.com Wondrous Website Design

On Mon, 14 Jul 2003 20:16:37 GMT, Larry Jaques
wrote:

But why fill the pores?

1) Because Stickley did.

2) Because you think it looks good.

a) It hides them, and makes the pore-less ray flake more prominent

b) it accentuates them (my rusticated ash)

On Mon, 14 Jul 2003 16:19:15 +0100, Andy Dingley
wrote:


But if you buy the cheapest set of paints from a local craft shop,
then you've no idea what you're getting. Many of them now contain
synthetic dyes of uncertain (or even well known) instability. This is
a serious issue with some artists and archival-grade conservators.

What about universal colorants? Is there any way to verify the
quality of the ingredients?

Thanks,
Barry

On Mon, 14 Jul 2003 22:57:28 GMT, B a r r y B u r k e J r . Keep it
in the kyou wrote:

What about universal colorants? Is there any way to verify the
quality of the ingredients?

The artist's response is to ask the manufacturers. If you Google, you
can find lists that people have assembled.

It's also creating a nice trade in "boutique" pigments, guaranteed
hand ground by virgin monks on the slopes of the Himalayas. With
Afghanistan now being a bit more open to trade, the price of lapis
lazuli has dropped somewhat too.

On Wed, 16 Jul 2003 02:23:21 GMT, Larry Jaques
wrote:

1) Because Stickley did.

I've read conflicting stories there and am willing
to believe the con side: that they didn't take the
time or -expense- to do so.

Gustav was clearly the sort of guy who'd do finishes the way he
wanted, rather than the way that made money. I think Leopold would
probably have value-engineered that step out.

OTOH, there's a lot of colour variation in GS product. It would be
interesting to know accurately if they did change their processes.

I also don't feel that
they were nearly as dark when original as the old
pieces are now. They darkened over time.

These pieces are only 100 years old, which is pretty young for oak.
There's 400 year oak furniture in town that's dark brown, and 800 year
old in some of the old English houses that's black. Compare this to
timber framing, where the 400 year stuff is already jet black. If you
saw these beams, they're darkened for 1/2" surface depth.

Compared to that, Barnsley work that is contemporaneous with Stickley
was finished to a lighter colour and is still light today.