Staining bare wood

[The Wall Pimper]

Evening all. I wondered if you could advise me of the best products for achieving a bright white and a black. I have used Liberon products recently but they are not nearly 'solid' enough in terms of the wood covering I'm wanting to achieve. Should I be looking to acrylic paints? Thanks in advance. P.S. I am a trainee picture framer working from my cellat.

[Cathy]

Acrylic's work fine , I use acrylic gesso as a base coat comes in black as well as white, gives a good solid base & helps fill the grain then a light sanding a couple of coat's of acrylic paint then can be finished with matt/gloss acrylic varnish or waxed as required

[The Wall Pimper]

Wow, thanks Cathy, that was quick . I have another realted question though, which brand of acrylic paint would you recommend? Thanks again...

[Cathy]

Windsor & newton Galleria or daler, don't bother with the cheap nastie's more trouble than they are worth

[framemaker]

Hi Wall Pimper, welcome to the forum

For a solid black (a paint finish as opposed to a stain finish) I usually use black pelican plaka paint, but as Cathy suggested artist acrylic would do the job well. The plaka is very matt so I then finish it with Roberson acrylic wax sealer, sanding sealer and wax or various other sealers. You still get some grain coming through, so if I wanted no grain I would gesso the frame first.

Here is a photo:

A160 obeche with black plaka and white slip

As for a solid white finish I use a base coat of quick drying acrylic primer undercoat and then 2 or 3 coats of bright white emulsion.

[Not your average framer]

Craig & Rose 1829 "Chalk White" acrylic eggshell emulsion.

Farrow & Ball "Off Black" acrylic eggshell emulsion.

[The Wall Pimper]

Thanks guys, loving this forum already . Apologies in advance for the multitude of questions that I am likely to ask over the next few months...

[prospero]

Nothing much to add to all that good advice.
Acrylic paints are great for frame finishing. Buff them up with wax and they take on a nice not-too-glossy finish. Black Gesso has more body and will hold brushstrokes. Good for producing a more textured finish. A black frame with alternate smooth/stippled parts looks really coooooooooool. Gesso can be buffed to a nice shine, but I would leave it much longer to dry before buffing. Overnight if poss.

Another thing to try is using a contrasting undercoat on a black finish. Red Oxide under black gives a nice 'cherry' black effect. you can cut it back with steel wool to let some of the red show though on the high points.

[gorillalipstick]

Of all options I would side with 'framemaker'. The finish you can get with several thin coats of Black Plaka over gessoed wood is in my opinion unbeatable for this type of frame especially Renaissance Wax finished. F&B or other house paints are also good in terms of pre-mixed (and therefore repeatable) colour ranges my concern here is that none of these companies will publish permanence data and from many separate sources I read that generally such paints are formulated for a 10 year life. Artists acrylic would therefore be a preferred option for permanence but not all qualities are the same. Galeria (student grade) is cheap but it finishes and covers in a way that reflects this. Artists grade is better and W&N is fine but I like Liquitex and their Basics Matt range is also very good. Best of this lot in my opinion however is Everest. Range is limited so some colour mixing will probably be needed. Not cheap and not easy to find but Lion do it.

[Not your average framer]

F&B or other house paints are also good in terms of pre-mixed (and therefore repeatable) colour ranges my concern here is that none of these companies will publish permanence data and from many separate sources I read that generally such paints are formulated for a 10 year life.

Yes that's true, but in this case we are talking about black and white paint colours and permanence is far less of a concern with both of these colours than with most others.

I have been using large quantities of the Craig & Rose 1829 paints ever since B & Q started selling them, without any problems whatsoever. My original display samples which are still in my shop, are as fresh looking as when I first prepared them and still match the colour of each new job as I do it.

I also fully agree with your comments about Everest and Plaka paints, which both have excellent durability and are well suited to most hand-finishing techniques and finish effects.