For a friend’s birthday. I’ve been so disappointed in all the different ways I’ve tried to add color to my wood projects. I’ve tried watercolors, colored pencils, inks. I want it transparent so acrylic paints have been out of the question. The colors are a serious problem when it’s time to varnish/polish because so far everything smears. No matter what I’ve tried, it all smears the colors. Grrrr.
This box decided me. I’m through messing around. Time to buy what the best use. Water based stains, in this case the Witch of Forest Grove recommended Saman, a Canadian product. They are expensive but come in a great array of colors and if you follow their Rit-esque recipes, you can create a lot of colors. They are only missing a really good red. So I splurged. I found someone online who sells them in 4 oz bottles so I was able to cut the cost in half. I feel guilty since I’m not working but damn it, the last time I was in this place, not long ago at all, I let that get in the way of my creativity and I had a year of almost none at all. Which darn near killed me. I am creating this time come hell or high water.
I almost decided not to give him this box on Wednesday but the design I still like, the colors I still like, the varnish helped with that inconsistency of coverage from the inks, it will have to do. It’s all I’ve had time for. And from now on, this shouldn’t be a problem.
Stitch Witch Cottage 
Water-based acrylics can be watered down to the point where they’re translucent and the grain shows through; I do it when I hand decorate paper. I put a couple dollops of paint in an over-sized salad bowl and fill with water, mixing well. I’d say it’s a gallon of water. Less paint would, of course, require less water. It looks opaque, but the best I achieved in using a painting technique with the paint thinned this much was a vellum affect — truly gorgeous. I used a good sized dollop of pink and an even bigger sized dollop of metallic pink and the shimmery effect is perfect. I posted a pic, but of course because the color is so light, it’s very hard to see. I should have included a piece of plain paper so there would have been a contrast. Just saying…
PS: The box is gorgeous!
Fanks! Yeah, just don’t want the acrylic feel. I love that matte that I got with inks, watercolor, and pencils. After seeing Sarah’s I’m confident that the stain is what I’m looking for. It better be!! 😉
Aha, you failed to mention texture! So, me will shuddup and wait to see how the stain works. 🙂
Ooo pretty! The teal colour for the water is just lovely – good woodburning too! If you like working with watercolours you’ll like the Saman stains – the only drawback to water based stains is that they raise the grain of the wood if you use too much or water them down. I usually try to avoid this by sanding the wood with the finest grain sandpaper I have first and it seems to keep the wood smooth instead of rough.
Happy crafting!
Sarah
why thank you! Coming from you that means something… Need something hotter and thinner I think, considering a fancy burner.