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April 13, 2008
writing with paint
To write with paint you need writing paint, or more specifically Keep’s Synthetic Enamel for Writing. You can use other paint, but Keep’s enamel is cooked up specially to have the right consistency, which is all nicely thickly sticky.
You also need writing brushes, brushes which have long bristles and a flat end, Hamilton’s your man every time. The idea of the long bristles is that they hold more paint and lay flat on the surface then cling to it as you make one long down-stroke, affording enough lateral control to maintain a straight line while not running out of paint.
Then there is the mahl stick, a short stick with a thick cloth end, which you reach over the painting area and rest your hand on so you don’t smudge the work-in-progress.
An old signwriter once told me, many years ago, don’t worry about your horizontals, concentrate on the down strokes, if these are equal thickness everything will be OK . You should also flare your corners a bit and the eye will bring them in square. He could do this sort of thing freehand with just a few guide lines.
Posted by john at April 13, 2008 09:37 PM
Comments
Aren't the tins good? All this advice is very sound, John, but ten minutes of trying to do this and I'd want to kill someone. Twenty minutes and I'd want to kill myself. Yours looks fantastic, though.
Posted by: Daphne at April 13, 2008 10:57 PM