Aaron’s New Akua (Done!) - Tiki Carving

AA Aaron's Akua Member Rancho Santa Margarita, CA Joined: Jul 09, 2004 Posts: 1596	AA Aaron's Akua Posted posted on Sat, Oct 30, 2004 5:05 PM The white edges of the tile were showing a little, so I picked up this high gloss acrylic enamel paint called “Glossies”. The color I used is a deep blue purple. You apply it, then bake it in the oven for 45 minutes or so. I painted up all of the edges (not shown here), and the color wound up matching nicely. Small detail, but the white edges were bugging me. All ready for staining. The product I’m using is Olympic oil base wood stain. The colors are “Natural” for the teeth & eyes (small can), and “Red Mahogany” for the rest. The green can is Minwax “Helmsman Spar Urethane”. I meant to get Marine Varnish like Benzart uses, but wound up with this instead. Who knows, maybe it will work better. The can says to wait only 6 hours between coats & sand with 220 grit in between. I’m gonna take Octane’s advice and double the dry time just to make sure. Either way, 12 hours of dry time beats 48 hours any day of the week. Just hope it looks as nice. Started with the teeth & eyes, that way the dark stain is less likely to run from the dry areas into the already stained light areas. Next comes the tricky part. I used a small artist’s brush to bring the dark stain right up to the light stain. This particular palm wood is dry as a bone, so I had to work fast. The stain directions say to apply it, then wipe it off 5 minutes later. It didn’t work that way for me. This stuff dried so fast, I had to sort of wipe it as I went to keep it uniform. I took Polynesiac’s advice & used foam brushes for the broad strokes. It seemed to work well for getting into all of the small cracks. Here’s a few close-ups. Here’s the tiki with the eye & ear inlay set in for effect. I’m actually gonna wait till the next to last coat of polyurethane is applied before I glue these in. They are plenty glossy as is. Here's the first coat of gloss. This is my last posting of progress pics on this tiki. I’ve got 9-12 coats of polyurethane to go & he’s done. I hope you all enjoyed this along with me. Thanks to all who posted such great advice. Look for the final product in a week or two. MAHALO! A-A "Ah, good taste! What a dreadful thing! Taste is the enemy of creativeness." -Pablo Picasso [ Edited by: Aaron's Akua on 2004-10-31 16:27 ]

The white edges of the tile were showing a little, so I picked up this high gloss acrylic enamel paint called “Glossies”. The color I used is a deep blue purple. You apply it, then bake it in the oven for 45 minutes or so. I painted up all of the edges (not shown here), and the color wound up matching nicely. Small detail, but the white edges were bugging me.

All ready for staining. The product I’m using is Olympic oil base wood stain. The colors are “Natural” for the teeth & eyes (small can), and “Red Mahogany” for the rest. The green can is Minwax “Helmsman Spar Urethane”. I meant to get Marine Varnish like Benzart uses, but wound up with this instead. Who knows, maybe it will work better. The can says to wait only 6 hours between coats & sand with 220 grit in between. I’m gonna take Octane’s advice and double the dry time just to make sure. Either way, 12 hours of dry time beats 48 hours any day of the week. Just hope it looks as nice.

Started with the teeth & eyes, that way the dark stain is less likely to run from the dry areas into the already stained light areas.

Next comes the tricky part. I used a small artist’s brush to bring the dark stain right up to the light stain. This particular palm wood is dry as a bone, so I had to work fast. The stain directions say to apply it, then wipe it off 5 minutes later. It didn’t work that way for me. This stuff dried so fast, I had to sort of wipe it as I went to keep it uniform.

I took Polynesiac’s advice & used foam brushes for the broad strokes. It seemed to work well for getting into all of the small cracks. Here’s a few close-ups.

Here’s the tiki with the eye & ear inlay set in for effect. I’m actually gonna wait till the next to last coat of polyurethane is applied before I glue these in. They are plenty glossy as is.

Here's the first coat of gloss.

This is my last posting of progress pics on this tiki. I’ve got 9-12 coats of polyurethane to go & he’s done. I hope you all enjoyed this along with me. Thanks to all who posted such great advice. Look for the final product in a week or two.

MAHALO!

A-A

"Ah, good taste! What a dreadful thing! Taste is the enemy of creativeness."
-Pablo Picasso

[ Edited by: Aaron's Akua on 2004-10-31 16:27 ]

Post #122760 by Aaron's Akua on Sat, Oct 30, 2004 5:05 PM