EC Matthews: Tricks of the Trade ; Jan. 26, 2006

[Mike Jackson]

From: EC Matthews: Tricks of the Trade ,1949

LACQUER OVER PAINT: You can brush or spray laquer over a thoroughly dry painted background (without blistering up the paint) if you will give the surface a coat of gelatin and water size first. Make size with gelatine capsules, same as for gold or silver leaf (or stronger,) brush it over the surface thoroughly with wide camel hair brush. Let it dry and surface will ready for the lacquer.

(I've never seen this trick mentioned before)

[Robin Sharrard]

Just to let you know Mike, these little snips from EC Matthews are great!, and very much appreciated. Robin

[Ron Percell]

Cool tid-bit Mike,

I'd think you might also be able to use shellac for this too.

Any imput


Thanks,
Ron

[Ron Berlier]

Ron -

As I recall when we were together at David McDonald's doing the Yellowstone Park piece that is what Rick used as a barrier in between the various steps on his piece. It is an alcohol based product.

[Mike Jackson]

Ron,
I think shellac would work fine, as it works as a barrier between lots of different kinds of base mediums. I think the beauty of Matthews tip is the fact you simply "flood" the size over the surface. If done over a motorcycle helmet or gas can, for example, you'd simply lacquer over the entire piece and not have to worry about being too careful with shellac or worry about it turning gold or yellow over a period of time.

This is another example where you'd want to experiment on quite a few test pieces before trying it on a real production piece.

Robin,
I would encourage EVERYONE to add a snippit or two here from their old books and magazines. I figured I'd try it for a while if I have a few minutes in the morning, but I know I won't be able to do it every day.

Mike

[Ron Percell]

Mike,
I think your right on target, good point