Need help with letter painting techniques

[PlateCarver]

I am fairly new to carvewright and have made a few signs. One of the challenges is getting cleanly painted letters on the sign. I looked at the numerous threads here and quite a lot of help but....

I am using Popular for a majority of the signs. I am sanding the surface before I carve ( I use centerline text) and once done I am covering the surface with a sealer, allow to dry and then use spray paint to cover the letters. Once it is dry (at least 24 hrs) I sand down the sign to only show the painted letters. The problem is that I am still getting a lot of bleeding into the surrounding wood and trying to sand it out takes me too deep. Any ideas on how to limit the "bleed"?

[oclatta]

I put on two coats of polyurethane with a brush to make sure that I get good coverage in the recess.

[PlateCarver]

is that before you paint the letters? So you coat the carved board first then paint, then sand?

[b.sumner47]

That is the way I do it.Two good coats before the letters then sand.Good Luck,Capt.Barry

[oclatta]

Yes. This works if you are just going to leave the board natural.

If I'm going to stain the board and not be able to sand off the overspray, I have my wife, who has steady hands and a lot of patience, paint the recesses of the letters with artist brushes.

[Kenm810]

I'm having pretty good luck with carving the text and giving it and the surface of the project a two coats of sanding sealer,
then when it's totally dry I use indoor/outdoor acrylic Latex for the text (it doesn't seem to bleed into the wood grain as much as some other paints),
next sand the entire surface to clean any drips, then one more coat of sealer over all,
and lastly the acrylic latex color for the surface of the sign.

[Mike Witt]

I Carve the sign as needed, Clean up any fuzzies, Stain as desired, Apply a couple coats of 'Deft' aerosol laquer when dry ( about 45 minutes ) I paint the letters with acrylic paint try not to get too much out side letters, let dry a couple hours and lightly sand with 120 grit random orbit sander untill all letters are clean then blow off laquer dust and respray again with ' Deft '
I have found this spray laquer to bo the cheapest and very best of all brands tried, recoats beautifully.

Mike

[LittleRedWoodshop]

Try this just once and let me know what you think.

1. Mask off the surface
2. Carve your design thru the mask
3. Spray paint your letters
4. Peel the mask off
5. Very little sanding and very little bleed.

NOTE: For mask I use CONTACT PAPER that you can find on clearance at just about any home store. I tend to buy the woodgrain. Anyway give that a try.

[Old Salt]

SOME of your problem is the wood you are useing it paints well because it soakes in well and holds the paint well. pine will not hold paint as well because it is a closer grain and has more sap content paint will not soak in and spread as eazy. You may try primeing with yellow glue mixted with water about 25 % glue 75% water.

Hope this willl help

[Dan-Woodman]

Also try painting your letters with paint from a can . That paint is a lot thicker than spray paint. Poplar is bad about soaking up paint where you don't want it.
later Daniel

[PlateCarver]

I greatly appreciate the idea and suggestions... I have another one to do this weekend and I will see how it comes out. Again thanks.

Tim
www.fatherdaughterww.com

[ChrisAlb]

Hi Tim,

Another thing to consider is the type of paint. I use acrylic paints I get from the craft section at Wal-Mart and artist brushes.

Right after the carve I SLAP (I'm no artist) the paint in the letters and once dry, I sand the board lightly with my 4" belt sander and a 120 grit to clean up any slopped paint. Then stain the wood.

The acrylics dry very quickly and don't bleed. They also resist the stain very well. Once again I SLAP the stain on and either wipe out the letters or better yet, use my air gun and blow them out.

Check out the camp signs project that Al and I did.

http://forum.carvewright.com/showthread.php?t=8329&highlight=Camp