ongoing work

[thewire]

Hi there in the past I have tried doing antarsia but I have quite a bad shake and had touble getting the pices to fit together so I have decided to do segmentation using mdf , and intend to try my hand at air brushing hope it works,

[Gaia]

Nice! That will look awsome air brushed.
I have no talent whatsoever with painting so I've never tried MDF, how is it to cut?
It looks like it shapes well, was that harder to do that wood?

Bobbi

[cskipper]

Oh my gosh, that looks just like one of my boxers! Where did you get the pattern? I'm worse at painting than I am at intarsia (which is bad), so I try to avoid both- lol!

[lucky788scroller]

Great idea trying that! Please do post a photo of that once its painted!
Cathy, you may find one similar here Kathy Wise Intarsia Patterns Catalog theres pages and pages of great dog designs on this site!Not sure if that particular one is from there though.

[Gill]

I've done one or two pieces using painted MDF. I suggest you apply a coat of acrylic primer/undercoat (they sell big buckets of the stuff at Wickes, and very suitable it is too), then sand back to remove raised fibres, apply another coat and sand back again if necessary. If you're using good quality MDF, two coats of undercoat with one sanding back between coats is all that will be required. However, nowadays the quality of MDF is not as good as it used to be, so you'll probably find you need three coats of paint and two sandings back in between coats.

It won't take long for each layer of undercoat to dry and it can be painted over with practically any type of paint, not just acrylic. However, I prefer to use acrylics because they're reasonably cheap and there's a good range of colours available. A couple of coats of acrylic hand-brushed normally do the trick. I've never managed to airbrush them successfully although I've tried on numerous occasions. I guess I don't have the knack. Anyway, you will have to thin your paint if using an airbrush and that may mean having to use several coats.

Hope this helps.

Gill

[thecopperfish]

You can also do segmentation using a light colored wood board and then stain the parts that need to be darker and paint the eyes black. For me staining would be easier than painting and you would also get the added bonus of seeing the wood grain if you like that. If you wanted to try it, pine, poplar or soft maple would work well. Please do post a picture when you're finished.
Chris

[thewire]

Thanks for the coments. it is quite easy to cut but you have to watch the dust. One big problem I've had in the past is keeping all the sawn parts togther with me shakind every time I put a freshly cut piece down I used to scatter everything but now I have it all kept in one place .I cut the outside of the piece I'm working on screw a ply base on to it and bingo you have a ready made box to put the pieces as they are cut go into there right full place in the project shaped box ,great no pieces knocked on to the floor.No mater what diserbility you may have there is alkways a way round it.

[greatdane2]

Resteraunts and cafateria's use plastic tray of different sizes. Old ones seem to show up in thrift stores. I got around 30 of them for a few bucks. I made an open front box on wheels with 1x1 sticks glued to the sides to hold each tray. the top is at a hight I like to work with. If doing a bunch of the same project I just cycle the trays and put the one I am working on, on top. With Intarsia I find it handy to move this stand with me as I move to different machines.
Alan.

[thewire]

Hi there but if you cut your fiure out the hole that vremaines is the exact replycer of the piece your working on so everything fits stight into place.
Mal

[greatdane2]

Oh I agree 100%, I was just saying about the trays more for intarsia. And even then I try to use your method to hold parts together. Doing things like Eagle wing parts that are cut from 1 piece of wood but can be 50 pcs as the feathers are cut out.