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Aging balsa wood
Does anyone know how to stress balsa wood so that it looks like timber used
in rafters or railway ties? Thanks Tania |
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For small pieces artists pastels do real neat things to new wood. You
can get some fairly cheap at most craft shops. It is timeconsuming for large stuff or when you have lots and lots of little things. Metis Artist wrote: Does anyone know how to stress balsa wood so that it looks like timber used in rafters or railway ties? Thanks Tania |
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On Sat, 21 Aug 2004 14:54:06 GMT, "Metis Artist"
wrote: Does anyone know how to stress balsa wood so that it looks like timber used in rafters or railway ties? I have used balsa and basswood in similar applications, and stressing them is easy and fun. You'll want to try a little experimentation, though, before you commit to aging your good pieces. Assemble a few items like: Very Coarse sandpaper Fine Sandpaper Wire brush Pliers Utility knife Scratch awl or punch (a nail will work, too) These will be your distressing tools. You will also want some acrylic art paints in browns, grays and maybe some dark red. You first want to knock the sharp corners and edges off the items you're going to distress. But make sure that you do this after the pieces are assembled. The idea is to make it look like natural wear and tear. If you put together a table out of boards, only the outside edges and tops of those boards are going to be worn, not the edges that are against one another. Okay, since balsa and basswood,... (I MUCH prefer basswood for building, if you can get it. It takes detail better, is harder, but not too hard, can be glued and nailed with less splitting and takes finishes more evenly than balsa.) Anyhow, since they have little grain of their own, you are going to need to give them some grain. You can use any of the following for this: VERY coarse (25-50 grit) sandpaper, a wire brush, the grippy part inside of a pair of pliers, or even the teeth of a comb, if you are using balsa. You want to firmly drag the item over the surface of the wood, inscribing a series of parallel lines (these don't have to be straight, and often look better if they are a bit wavy) along the length of the wood. You might also want to put some "knots" in the wood, depending on your application. For this, you can use the tip of a ballpoint pen, with the point retracted. You don't have to make it deep, just a shallow ring, pressed into the wood will represent a knot nicely. You can also put insect holes in the wood by using the point of your awl or nail, and poking it randomly around the surface of the wood. But remember, as in all things, "Less is more." You don't want to use all the techniques on every piece of wood, because it will look contrived. Except for the graining technique, that is, because all of the wood would have grain. After your wood is sufficiently abused, it's time to color it. I've found the easiest way to do this is to make a wash of acrylic paints, watered down with water. You can do this in small batches or large, depending on your needs. I just usually use a small container, put some water in it and start adding drops of pain of various shades of brown, gray and red until I get the desired color, by testing it on a piece of the same wood and then drying it with a hair dryer or heat gun, to make sure of the final color. Where you have created knots in the wood, take an indelible marker in a dark color and put a dot of it on the knot. Knots are always darker than the surrounding wood. A good way to determine what colors you want to use is by looking at the wood around you. Drive around the countryside and look at exposed, weathered wood. Look in antique shops at the color of old wood, and in the rafters of old houses and barns. Inside woods tend to darken and outdoor woods tend to lighten, eventually turning a light gray. Using these tools and others you may come up with on your own, and some experimentation, you should be able to come up with some nice rafters, railroad ties and bulding lumber. Most of all, have fun! -- Chuck *#:^) chaz3913(AT)yahoo(DOT)com Anti-spam sig: please remove "NO SPAM" from e-mail address to reply. September 11, 2001 - Never Forget -----= Posted via Newsfeeds.Com, Uncensored Usenet News =----- http://www.newsfeeds.com - The #1 Newsgroup Service in the World! -----== Over 100,000 Newsgroups - 19 Different Servers! =----- |
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