Wanted to test out some finer detail with the smaller bits. So I designed a basic board in Affinity Designer and exported the individual artwork for assembly in Easel. Use some scrap birch plywood and made several different passes using multiple bits.
First finish pass was spray paint for the letters and details, then hand painting to fill in the detail.
Mahogany gel stain. 2 applications, with heavy wiping in a radial pattern from the inside out. Then finish with varnish.
Had an issue where the back scroll work depth was inadvertently set to almost the full depth of the wood, but after some wood fill and paint, its tough to notice any impact on the board at all. For some reason the scroll work did not print the finer parts of the lines, even with the thinnest bit. But ill work on that for the next one.
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Very nice work. Great idea.
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That’s a nice job! You might find you get slightly better results (I’m looking around the horseshoe) if you seal your wood before painting, it will stop that bleed into the wood.
Came out looking cool, good detail!
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As @DanBrown says, sealing the wood makes a huge difference when I’m using coloured resin to fill in carvings, so I assume the same would hold true for paint.
I bought some sanding sealer which was Ok, but I’ve lately been using shellac which has been diluted (only 10-20% shellac) with methylated spirits. It dries within minutes and a few quick coats stops any paint or resin from being absorbed and blurring the carved edges.
It also hardens the surface and reduces “furries” on finishing cuts (which is what the sanding sealer claims to do).
Works really nicely when there’s high contrast between the wood and the resin or paint - see the carving on the outdoor table I made yesterday - in real life, the edges are crisp and clearly defined. After a few coats of clear, the text should really ‘pop’.
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Thanks @DanBrown & @DavidWestley ! I will definitely start doing this with new projects.
