Ok I’m trying to find a sealant to use in conjuction with airbruched and porca pen art to prevent bleeding and lift off.
I have been recommended either Krylon or Futures floor sealant.
Both of these are acrylic waterbased sealants, unfortunately I have not been able to find suppliers of these specific brands (the names could be different) in the UK
My local art shop stockes an acrylic water based gloss medium/varnish by “liquitex”.
I know I should just do tests but I’m reluctant to shell out £5 for something I can’t use.
Anyone had any experience of this brand? does it work? what do all you UK based shapers/glassers use??
The air brushing will be on the foam, but as I’ve not used the pens before, I want to try out the pens on both the foam and the sanded hot coat.
I think they may work better on the hot coat and would be glossed over the top.
I’m guessing that before putting pen to foam you also have to seal the blank first then seal it again when art works finished. I was assuming that you would use the same sealant for all applications?
But thats just my interpritation of what I’ve read and the guy in the art shop had no clue what so ever.
Pens to foam is a pain. It did’nt realy work for me. I use a combination of spraying onto the foam and pens on the hotcoat. I recently did my first board where I did not have a problem with the the art work running when glassing. Its all down to foam preperation. Get it as smooth as possible and blow all the dust off with a compressor. Then if you can, glass the colour bits last. Homebase B&Q have floor varnish That is water based it is a milky colour but goes clear. I Think I have some in my shed I will paint it on a piece of blank this evening and let you know tomorrow. I think it’s called diamond gaurd floor varnish.
you’ve more or less just done the process I had in mind, a lot of people said that they didn’t bother with a sealant either, but the just as many recomended I use one, so not wanting to cut any corners I thought I’d give it a try.
That floor varnish could be the stuff, that would be great as I have a B&Q 10 mins down the rd from me, let me know how that goes.
As I’ve not use the pens before, I’m going to do some practice peices on thin foam and glass them, then either hand then on the wall and keep them for future reference, or sell them as art!
see if you can find a can of granyte full gloss lacquer in hardware stores its real good and a gloss spray coat and for sealing down artwork on the foam also it car paint stores for i part cellulose lacquer.
Kokua - that had not occured to me, I bet that causes all sorts of problems with air bubbles and has confirmed why most people do their art work with pens onto the sanded hot coat.
Pauluk - I will keep my eyes open for those brands and if I can find them I will give them a go.
I was reading another treand about problems with red paint running and futures floor sealant keeps coming up, and is also used to thin air brush paint instead of water, liquitex was also mentioned.
Now I found liquitex also make a gloss medium & varnish, as I can’t find any futures, would you recomend this to thin and one of the other brands to seal, or has any one had any problems with liquitex before?
Herb Spitzer has done a lot of experimenting and has posted his favorites.
My personal experience has been with an older brand called “Like Magic” acrylic floor finish. It seems to mix with water based paints OK as a thinner and also works as a sealer over airbrushed sprays on the foam. I got mine by raiding my girlfriend’s “under the kitchen sink” cabinet.
The point is that there may be several brands to choose from and they are likely available in the local grocery or hardware store. The floor finish stuff might not hold up if used as a top coat over posca pens on the sanded hotcoat. I think most guys are using something like Krylon clear spray from a can for that.
the input I’ve been getting has been very useful and really helped me clarify what I’m looking for and where to look.
I’ve only looked in art stores so far so will get my carcass down to the hardwear stores and see what they have to offer.
basically a friend of mine wants a specific design, unfortunately I havent gat a photo to post. but I’m planning to layer it up.
airbrush on to foam. (fade out from tail to nose)
(possibly) tinted lam, then clear hot coat.
posca pen or possible indian ink onto sanded hot coat
gloss coat over artwork.
what I’m worried about is the paint/pens/ink bleeding, lifting off or doing any other weird unexpected stuff.
considering I’ve not been doing this for long It a steep learning curve, all in one job. But I love a challenge and my friends design is killer, just got to figure out the best way of doing it, then get to the supplies I need. do a shed load of testing, and try not to screw up the final board - no problem
My firend wants to take an active role as well and understands that its all going to be a bit experimental so that all good, I’m just a bit of a perfectionist and hate when things don’t turn out right.
The stuff is called “ronseal diamond gard” floor varnish. The blank was still OK this morning after it had dried. It also seems very thin and I would think it would work nicely as a thinning agent for paints. If you want a final coat over your artwork and dont want to hotcoat. I use speed coat from Homebase. Its not cheap but seals the board nicely and has a UV protection in it aswell.
I checked out a small hardware store at lunch and found the ronseal dimand hard floor varnish, lable says clean brushes with water and detergant so should be ok to use.
Being a varnish I was worried it would be too thick to use as a thinner and it was £14.99 a tin.
once my supplies arrive and I get down to business I do some tests and also try the liquitex and let you know the results.