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Jeri Hahn

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So, I want my beams to look substantial. Also, I am going to open my staircase  in my Glencroft so will be using a 3/4 " floor to ceiling beam to hold everything up. I also want this pole to look like a "meaty" piece of wood. 

I've stained one ceiling beam with Golden oak minwax stain and then painted over with acrylic "melted chocolate " by Apple barrel. I painted one with a tan color wood filler and will go back and put wood grain in with my exacto knife. Not sure which I like best.

Any ideas? 

 

Jeri 

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Do you want the rough splintery texture? If not, I’d give it a light sanding. Then on stained pieces I’d use the melted chocolate to make a wash and do light coats of the wash until you get the depth of color that you want.

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1 hour ago, Jeri Hahn said:

I want to cover up the cheap looking plywood and make it look like hand hewn wood I guess. I am being picky aren't I?

Picky = Realistic.  Don't apologize for being picky. :)  To get the hand hewn look, I think I'd use an exacto or utility knife to take a bit of the sharpness off of parts of the corners; use a curved carving knife to make shallow gouge makes in the flat surfaces; and poke with an awl and otherwise distress it.

You may not want this much texture, or this, but you get the idea. 

And in applying the color (stain or paint), I'd rub it on with a cloth pad rather than brushing it on. It will leave some irregularities in the density of the color which will also add to the realism. (Old T shirt fabric is good. Use a very small piece folded into a pad. Bigger pieces just eat stain.)

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2 hours ago, KathieB said:

Picky = Realistic.  Don't apologize for being picky. :) 

I'm so glad you said that Kathie - I was going to if no one had!!  Jeri - this is YOUR work and it needs to be as good as you want/need it to be.  Now obviously we do have to be realistic as we're building our skills and learning new techniques, however there is nothing wrong with aiming for the stars!!

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Of the two examples you show, Jeri, I much prefer the darker one as far as color goes. It looks richer and more antique, if that is your goal. The lighter one looks very fake and flat and much more contemporary, in my opinion. But in the end, it all depends on what YOU like and how the rest of the colors and finishes interact with it.

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5 hours ago, Shareb said:

there is nothing wrong with aiming for the stars!!

And of if you aim for the stars and miss, when you're working with miniatures it is not a very long fall back to Earth. There is always a work-around or a fix of some kind.

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2 hours ago, havanaholly said:

Somewhere I read (Small Stuff Digest, maybe?) you can also use a bit of jewelry chain & a hammer to distress your beams.

You can, but you have to watch that you don't get a regular pattern showing up onto the wood. That happens very easily, as I can relate from experience.

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