bamboo paint color? - Tiki Carving

P pariartspaul Member Martiniland, California Joined: Dec 20, 2003 Posts: 159	P pariartspaul Posted posted on Thu, Jun 16, 2005 12:52 PM Aloha Tikphonic, For the base coat, I use an ochre rustoleum quart can from Home Depot, (not spray paint! - if you don't find rustoleum brand, any kind of oil based enamel paint will work) and I don't spray it, I just brush it on with an old cheap brush and then let it dry for a few hours in the sun before I start the other colors. For the other colors, I mix up my own in little cups using the rustoleum colors. I buy these basic colors to mix with: ochre, a bright yellow, a cream or white, a brown, and a black - that should give you enough of a pallete to mix up all the tones you find in bamboo. Sometimes it's hard to find all the base colors you need because rustoleum has a limited color selection to begin with - and then some stores don't always stock every color, so it's kind of hit and miss. If I can't find a good ochre, sometimes I mix something up with yellow, brown, and cream until it looks right. Oh and if you want sections to look like fresh bamboo, you can sneak some green in here and there. I always have a nice piece of real bamboo handy and use it as a guide when I mix. So I mix up a natural looking medium base and brush some on the long areas between the nodes. Using a piece of wood or cardboard to work on I mix the paint with a brush right there as I go, I add a little brown to it and work it up to the nodes getting darker right up to them - and blend it real nice. I let it set for a bit and then work in some hilights on the long section. Sometimes I drybrush a little more highlights on after it sets up. I come in with a teeny brush and paint in fake cracks with black after everything is dry. And sometimes I highlight the edges of the cracks lightly with a creamy light color and you'd swear it was dimensional. Other than that - the best advice I can give you is have that real bamboo next to you and use it as a guide when you paint - and if you can get your colors close to the real thing, you'll probably end up with something that looks pretty good. It's mostly trial and error, but you can get it to look so good it will fool anyone. Good luck with it and post some pictures when you get a chance! [ Edited by: pariartspaul on 2005-06-16 12:54 ]

Aloha Tikphonic,

For the base coat, I use an ochre rustoleum quart can from Home Depot, (not spray paint! - if you don't find rustoleum brand, any kind of oil based enamel paint will work) and I don't spray it, I just brush it on with an old cheap brush and then let it dry for a few hours in the sun before I start the other colors.

For the other colors, I mix up my own in little cups using the rustoleum colors. I buy these basic colors to mix with: ochre, a bright yellow, a cream or white, a brown, and a black - that should give you enough of a pallete to mix up all the tones you find in bamboo. Sometimes it's hard to find all the base colors you need because rustoleum has a limited color selection to begin with - and then some stores don't always stock every color, so it's kind of hit and miss. If I can't find a good ochre, sometimes I mix something up with yellow, brown, and cream until it looks right. Oh and if you want sections to look like fresh bamboo, you can sneak some green in here and there. I always have a nice piece of real bamboo handy and use it as a guide when I mix.

So I mix up a natural looking medium base and brush some on the long areas between the nodes. Using a piece of wood or cardboard to work on I mix the paint with a brush right there as I go, I add a little brown to it and work it up to the nodes getting darker right up to them - and blend it real nice. I let it set for a bit and then work in some hilights on the long section. Sometimes I drybrush a little more highlights on after it sets up. I come in with a teeny brush and paint in fake cracks with black after everything is dry. And sometimes I highlight the edges of the cracks lightly with a creamy light color and you'd swear it was dimensional.

Other than that - the best advice I can give you is have that real bamboo next to you and use it as a guide when you paint - and if you can get your colors close to the real thing, you'll probably end up with something that looks pretty good. It's mostly trial and error, but you can get it to look so good it will fool anyone.

Good luck with it and post some pictures when you get a chance!

[ Edited by: pariartspaul on 2005-06-16 12:54 ]

Post #166259 by pariartspaul on Thu, Jun 16, 2005 12:52 PM