Been away awhile...

[KarenW]

To paint are you masking and carving through?

Exactly.
Sand to finish grit, couple coats of lacquer, contact paper mask, carve, paint.

[IceStorm]

To paint are you masking and carving through?

Exactly.
Sand to finish grit, couple coats of lacquer, contact paper mask, carve, paint.

Contact paper is the only way to go. Karen turned me on to this a long time ago.
Thanks Karen
Storm

[KarenW]

[mmatarella]

Sorry to resurrect an old thread... but I can't seem to get contact to stick well enough. I get it coming up quite a lot. If I have dust collection on it's even worse. As soon as a small piece pulls up the vac pulls it, if no dust collection is on I've gotten it wrapped around the bit.

Edit: Everything I've found is Con Tac adhesive 'shelf liner', is that the problem? All our big box and home centers only have displays of that. I know people used to cover furniture and stuff with Contact, I can't believe they user this low tack shelf liner stuff and it stayed.

I've tried most recently Con Tac brand, and tried both a hard wood and softer rubberish roller to make sure it's down. I'm wondering if it's the brand? I have to say the stuff I've tried felt very low tack.

I know Avery has a film, but I'm trying to keep cost down to do signs at a reasonable cost.

Thanks for any ideas!

Mark

[KarenW]

Hi Mark - sorry your question has gone unanswered for so long. I rarely log in anymore except to read late at night.

I don't use ConTac paper anymore and haven't in a long time - probably since this thread originally started. I've found better ways to paint since then.
But to answer your question, yes, plain ol' shelf liner, the peel and stick kind. WHite vs clear - the white has a stronger grip. Never had a problem with it coming up during a carve or wrapping the bit but it did leave a residue when applied over a sealer coat of lacquer.
It's best for large, simple carves rather than carves with lots of small details because the small bits can be lost and the ones that remain can be a buster to get off after painting.

Now I seal everything before applying any color - ink, paint, stain, or whatever else I fancy that day.
It just goes so much quicker and no picking little pieces later.

[basecircle]

Great to see you are back Karen.Your projects are great to see.Basecircle

[Mimbler]

Hi Mark - sorry your question has gone unanswered for so long. I rarely log in anymore except to read late at night.

...
Now I seal everything before applying any color - ink, paint, stain, or whatever else I fancy that day.
It just goes so much quicker and no picking little pieces later.

Hi Karen,
could you elaborate a little on what you are saying that you just seal everything first? I understand the contact paper process, but not the latter,
thanks, Mike

[KarenW]

Thanks Basecircle.

could you elaborate a little on what you are saying that you just seal everything first? I understand the contact paper process, but not the latter,
thanks, Mike

Sure -- I seal everything with lacquer.
If it's a portrait I sand it to finish grit and put two good coats of shot lacquer (from a gun, not a rattle can) on it before cutting. After it comes off the machine and the fuzzies are taken care of, I shoot it again to seal the fresh cuts and prevent the dreaded bleed or spidering. Then I go with a water-based stain, let dry, sand back a bit and two more coats of lacquer as top coats.

For everything else, the process is basically the same except I skip the pre-finishing. It goes on the machine, gets cut, gets shot twice then painted or stained or inked (depending on what it is and what lumber I use) sanded back and finished out. I use acrylics, watercolor, stencil ink and water-based stains on my pieces.

It's a lot of sanding and a lot of coats of lacquer but the results are stellar. Only occasionally, when I'm rushing or when I get something out of sequence (meaning, um, I forget where I'm at, lol) I'll have a touch of bleed but it's rare.
wow... that sounded sorta smug, didn't it. lol
But I've been a furniture finisher for 33 years now so yeah, luckily screw ups don't happen often.

[Mimbler]

Thanks Karen, I understand the process now!
Mike