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How to Paint With Watercolors on Wood Carvings

Add a blush of color to your carvings with watercolor paint.
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If you would like to add color to your wood carvings, watercolor paint is a good option. Watercolor tends to sink into the wood, giving the wood a blush of color while still showing the grain of the wood. Watercolor paints come in cakes of paint and tubes. For the best results, use watercolor paints that come in a tube. The paint is thicker and less likely to drip.

Things You'll Need:

  • Cotton Rag
  • Water
  • Palette
  • Watercolor Paint
  • Watercolor Brushes

Dust the wood carving with a cotton rag to remove any dust or wood shavings. Dust and wood shavings can mix with the watercolor and make it look dull.

Decide where you will put each color on the carving.

Lay the wood down onto your work surface so that it is flat. Watercolor will run down a vertical object that isn't very absorbent, such as wood.

Squirt your paints onto the palette.

Dip your brush into the water and dab the brush into the paint color you want to use first.

Move your brush across the wood. Pull the brush in the direction of the wood grain so that the bristles glide along the surface of the wood without catching. Reload your brush with more paint as needed.

Wash your brush when changing colors. This is done by rinsing the brush with clean water.

When you are done brushing your colors onto the wood, let it dry for an hour before touching it.

Tip

The more water you add to your paints the more prone to dripping they will be.

Warnings:

  • Don't let paint dry on your brushes, because the paint will be difficult, if not impossible, to remove.
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