I want to hire someone to help me stain relief carvings. Photos included.

[maryamick]

Forgive me if this post is not in the right place. Also forgive if this has been covered elsewhere. Also forgive the long length. I am looking to pay someone that can physically show me how to stain a relief carved sign when the background is one color, some elements another stain color, and even others yet another stain color. I know that I can sand one of the layers off making it appear to be a different color than the rest. But can someone show me how, in person or on a video, step by step, on how to get multi colored stain affects on signs? I'm including photos of a couple of my signs.. some raw so you can see what I mean, some already finished ... I love these signs but I know they can be better. Also, if anyone has technique suggestions on the carvings themselves, I'm all ears. These signs have sold wonderfully but I know they can look better.. I know they can look better. Please contact me if you can help.

http://www.happywebguru.com/blackmon.jpg (This is an "in memory" sign I made for my dad that I haven't the foggyest idea how to stain multi colors. I know I can do the entire thing one stain color and sand off the letters, but would like to do 2 or 3 stain colors..)

http://www.happywebguru.com/bandi.jpg (see how rough the textures is? should be smooth).

http://www.happywebguru.com/bandi2.jpg - (finished sign)

http://www.happywebguru.com/cara-sign.jpg - (raw sign)

http://www.happywebguru.com/welcome1.jpg (again, rough background texture)

http://www.happywebguru.com/garza.jpg (finished sign.. needs improvement).

http://www.happywebguru.com/hurta.jpg (rough rough rough background texture)

[DickB]

It appears that you have not applied any draft to your lettering. This can lead to chip out and jagged edges. I would suggest at least medium draft.

At the Conference Joe talked about the advantages of using texture as a background rather than a smooth surface - it adds interest, can be easier to finish, and looks better. I am working on this sign for a customer. Medium draft on the lettering and the Materials tool used for texture. I had to only lightly sand the background to get a good finish.



You painting skills look pretty good to me. This is an area where I struggle, In fact I need to highlight the lettering on this sign in black, and I often mess up.

[maryamick]

thanks so much for your reply. Your piece looks beautiful to me. I should have made it more clear, I'm Connie, my sister Mary is the painter, I'm attempting to be the stainer but um.. I'm failing so far. HAHA. Thanks for your reply.

-Connie

[fwharris]

thanks so much for your reply. Your piece looks beautiful to me. I should have made it more clear, I'm Connie, my sister Mary is the painter, I'm attempting to be the stainer but um.. I'm failing so far. HAHA. Thanks for your reply.

-Connie

For staining with more than one color you might try using a gel stain instead of the normal stain. It is more of a gel/paste and does not run. Also using small brushes used for painting will allow you to get into the small areas and ease the stain up to your other areas.

[FWMiller]

Do you have dust collection? I noticed a big improvement in how clean/smooth the background carved web I did similar style signs after I added a dust collector. If dust collects on the rails it causes small variable z errors which show up most noticeably in the flat background. Using a textured background as recommended above makes it less noticeable but can be more difficult to sand.