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To begin I took two cans of spray
primer, one Black and one Dark Gray. I lightly sprayed the black and
then followed up with a lighter application of the gray. I kept this
up till I had a good even coverage of both colors. Once those
applications were dried thoroughly, the next step was to give the
deep crevices of the wood a wash of pure black. |
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While this wash was still wet I
gently, as not to displace the paint in the crevice, removed most of
the color from the upper ridges of the wood with a soft cloth and
sealed the area with
Krylon Matte. |
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I’m going to begin the color changes with a Burnt Sienna by
dry brushing lightly upon the ridges of
the wood. I wiped my
brush off on a clean cloth repeatedly till the brush was able to
glide over the ridges without leaving a wet look. Once all the
pieces were done it was lightly sealed again with
Matte |
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The next two steps I alternated
between often.
The first I used a rag to wipe on Freak Flex
Wooden Stake, and the other a sea sponge to dap and skip around the
piece with Burnt Umber.
I repeated this method till I found a
comfortable combination of color I was happy with. Look closely at
pic (4) it is noticeable how the sponge simply breaks up the
underlining color without totally covering it up. Be sure to have
the sponge relatively dry of color, this is important, you don’t
want it to be saturated with paint. Blot the sponge often on
a
clean rag before applying. |
Pic 4
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The sea sponge
had proven to be the key technique to the realistic effect I was
going for.
I happened to have picked Burnt Umber, because I
wanted to darken up some areas of
the Raw Sienna previously
applied, but yet, still allow much of it to show
through.
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The Wooden Stake was
applied in a different manner to help equalize the spotted effect I
was getting with the sea sponge, like a tug of war between
techniques.
Basically, what I was attempting to avoid was a noticeable
pattern. In this type of “nature” there is no pattern to be found.
Colors are random, and no two-tree barks or inside tree rings are
the same. Each board, or wood plank within your kit must be somewhat
different from its counterpart. |
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After repeating the above
steps many times the pieces were dull coated and permanently
assembled. Immediately the very light grays and almost
white’s came out to play.
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Once again I revert back to imagining
an old washed out barn, or that worn out old park bench we’ve seen
numerous times somewhere out there. My imagination seems to recall that
the worst worn areas are the edges. I took some Lt Gray and began to
lightly, lightly, lightly, dry brush the edges building up the color
slowly and in random areas.
I mentioned random again, because you
don’t want to have every edge, and every end or tip have the same Lt Gray
look, remember do not purposely form a pattern. Hit the tops of some boards, hit the edges of others, and split a
board in half with some Lt Gray. Put your piece down and step away….what
do you see? Return and continue dry brushing and repeat these steps till
your happy with your results. Eventually you will be and another kit will
be ready for your display. |
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