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Finishing with guilders Paste and oil

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hey guys,

I’m working on a bowl that I colored black using Speedball black ink. I plan on carving areas and applying gold guilders paste to the carved recess. I’m trying to figure out how do I finish the bowl.

  1. Should I apply Danish oil to the whole bowl before I carve sections on it then apply guilders paste
  2. Should I carve it then apply Danish oil on all of it then follow up with guilders paste
  3. Should I carve it, apply guilders paste then apply Danish oil
  4. Use some other finish
My concern is the oil and guilders paste not going well together.
 

Bill Boehme

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Forget about the Danish oil. Apply the gilders paste and then buff with a rag to work it into the crevices and pores. Continue buffing to remove the gilders paste until the desired effect is achieved. Allow it to dry for a day or two and then finish with some light coats of spray lacquer. My favorite is Deft gloss.
 

john lucas

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I have always used lacquer but lately have been using minwax wipe on poly and so far that's worked quite fine as a finish over the wax. quite often I don't put anything over it and it's fine as long as you don't try to buff it. If in doubt you can always use shellac as the first barrier layer over the wax.
 
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What's the species? Remember using guilders paste on open pore woods will fill all of those pores. Especially if applied on something with no finish film.
 
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I have always used lacquer but lately have been using minwax wipe on poly and so far that's worked quite fine as a finish over the wax. quite often I don't put anything over it and it's fine as long as you don't try to buff it. If in doubt you can always use shellac as the first barrier layer over the wax.

I’ve used minwax on few pieces, because I’m going to carve it, I’m not sure how it fill some of the spots. I’m also debating if I want to make it glossy. Right now it is black and really like the look of it as is but I need to apply a finish
 
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What's the species? Remember using guilders paste on open pore woods will fill all of those pores. Especially if applied on something with no finish film.

It is black walnut. I’ve sanded it to 400, I’m going to carve recesses into it then apply one more coat of black ink, sand to 600 and apply the gilders paste in the recess.

7C82E0BF-8133-4CB4-B0CB-03B1E866FA4F.jpeg
 

Bill Boehme

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I’ve used minwax on few pieces, because I’m going to carve it, I’m not sure how it fill some of the spots. I’m also debating if I want to make it glossy. Right now it is black and really like the look of it as is but I need to apply a finish

If you decide that you don't want glossy, it's easy to just shoot a coat of semi gloss or matte over it. Disadvantage of gloss is that it highlights a bad sanding job especially on a black background. Disadvantage of semi gloss and matte finishes is that they have optical flatteners that show up as a whitish haze on a black background ... making it look dark gray. Sometimes no topcoat finish is better than a matte clear coat.
 

Bill Boehme

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It is black walnut. I’ve sanded it to 400, I’m going to carve recesses into it then apply one more coat of black ink, sand to 600 and apply the gilders paste in the recess.

View attachment 23389

In this case, I would apply clear lacquer over the piece now before you carve it. Then apply the guilders paste and finally finish with another coat of lacquer.
 

Bill Boehme

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Curious, why the first clear lacquer before carving?

I suppose that you could carve and then apply the lacquer, but the rationale would be to keep the dyed black area clean ... if that is your intention. Otherwise, the gilding paste will become embedded in the pores and even with a well sanded surface the gilding paste fills microscopic irregularities. With a few coats of lacquer to give a smooth non-porous surface, the surface can be wiped clean of gilding paste except for the carved areas ... if that is what you want.
 

john lucas

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I just re read Betty Scarpino's article on using gilding paste and she recommends using 2 light coats of lacquer before using the paste. You don't want enough to fill in the pores but you want enough to protect the other finish. without the lacquer the paste will change the color of the areas you don't want to change. I tried it with and without the other day to see and she is correct (DUH).
 
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Thanks John! I will do that. This is my first piece and first try on what I am trying to do so it will most likely be a learning experiment for future pieces.
 

Bill Boehme

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I just re read Betty Scarpino's article on using gilding paste and she recommends using 2 light coats of lacquer before using the paste. You don't want enough to fill in the pores but you want enough to protect the other finish. without the lacquer the paste will change the color of the areas you don't want to change. I tried it with and without the other day to see and she is correct (DUH).

Thanks John! I will do that. This is my first piece and first try on what I am trying to do so it will most likely be a learning experiment for future pieces.

It depends on whether or not your goal is to accentuate the grain pattern. On wood that is strongly ring porous such as ash the objective is usually to highlight the grain pattern and Betty's suggestion would apply. However, in this situation it sounds like the goal is to only apply the guilding paste to the carved area so building up the finish would work better.
 

john lucas

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It the case of the photo you have, very careful application by brush was probably how that was done. Using a gullding wax to accentuate carving you would want to fill the grain like Bill said to avoid having the wax colored grain detract from the carving. Best bet is to use a wood that doesn't have a lot of pores such as cherry, maple, bradford pear, etc. If you use walnut, oak,or ash you will have lots of pores to fill.
 
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Well, that went down hill real quick!

Dropped the red gilders paste on my shorts while opening it and smeared my cloth, kitchen, everything. In the process of trying to catch it, smeared the bowl in red as well. Not to mention my micro carver carbide burr kept getting clogged and would not drill deep even after constant cleaning and was disappointed.

In the end, I decided to give up and wiped the whole piece in gold then red gilders paste.

My wife keeps thinking my designs are by creative calculated execution...

07AC82CA-96F0-40B4-B95D-2FC17246321E.jpeg 65BFB6B8-A811-40EA-BE02-572688571F7E.jpeg
 
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