Traditionally, January and February are my play time. They are quiet months at the Craft Fair and so it gives me some time to experiment and play with the clay without having to worry too much about stock levels. Unfortunately, January was just about wiped out with "burn out syndrome" after the Christmas German Style Market and then I got the flu which knocked me out for about 3 weeks.
So February is almost over and I have not played a great deal.
I have made some petal beads, pictured above, which was fun, but certainly not anything new and then I got the idea to have a go an carving beads and antiquing them with acrylic paint.
I think that maybe I am doing something wrong here.
I have seen lots of antiqued beads, read a few hints and tips on the Internet and have tried lots of different ways of applying the paint.......thinned down, left on and sanded off, applied and immediately wiped off, several coats added and wiped off, different colours applied and wiped off..... I think you get the general idea.
I am not happy with the way the beads look - more dirty than antiqued. I have no idea what I am doing wrong.
Maybe you can help?
Do you have any hints, tips or ideas that you can share here and help me to achieve that antiqued look as opposed to dirty with a hint of desperation!? I would be very grateful!
2 comments:
I love the look of these - they don't look dirty at all!! - try using dark brown acrylic - (looks like you might be using black)- I use burnt umber and sometimes add black to it to make it darker when needed. paint it on and before it dries, I wipe it off with a baby wipe. this keeps the paint in the crevices and leaves the bead fairly close to its normal color. :) best of luck :)
Sandee
Hi Sandee, thank you so much. I was using black, I will certainly try using burnt umber instead and will try using a baby wipe - I was using a kitchen paper. You comment on this leaving the beads fairly close to their original colour is really useful - I had imagined before starting that wiping off the paint would leave the beads in their exact original colour and was a little disappointed that it changed them. I realise now that I will have to make sure my original colour is slightly lighter than I want it to end up after the paint application. Really useful to know! :)
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