

The CA glue can also be sanded and polished after its set up in the antler. However, when working with very porous pieces you might want to use CA glue or polyurethane to seal the antler. I don't even have to put any kind of finish on my antler crafts. One of the things I love about sanding antler is how well it polishes to a shine. Tip 4 - Use 120 grit, 220 grit, 400 grit, and 600 grit sandpaper for areas that need to be smooth. CA glue (thin & medium) can be used to fill in porous antler. Tip 3 - Use epoxy or CA glue for glueing in components (examples - pens and bottle cap opener).


#India ink michaels crack
Antler is tough, but it can crack or fracture if you stress it too much when drilling. When drilling down the center of a piece of antler, I prefer to use wide and fairly straight sections of antler. The drilling part is where you will notice the most odor. Tip 2 - Make sure you secure the piece in a vise before you cut or drill. Likewise, when you look at a cross section of antler, the center tends to be more porous while the outer part is more dense. As you move toward the tips (tines), it gets more dense and less porous. Here are a few tips to remember: Tip 1 - The closer you get to the base of the antler (where it was attached to the deer) the more porous the antler. Though there are some good options for those on a budget (such as Winsor and Newton Galleria Acrylics), spending a bit more will give you a much better finish and consistency.Working with antler is not that hard once you get used to it. This means it will be less vibrant and the colour will look flat. Cheaper acrylic paint contains more filler in the form of acrylic polymer, and less pigment. Is there a difference between cheap and expensive acrylic paint? Consider what you need your paint for and choose what is best for your needs. Meanwhile, some acrylic paints have a longer working time – how long it takes for the paint to dry – than others, making blending and mixing colours easier, but slowing down layered approaches. Minimising this removes the need to compensate for changes in colour. Better quality paints usually cover a surface more thoroughly, while poorer quality paints may be too see-through.Īnother important quality to look out for is colour shift – that is how much the paint changes colour as it dries.
#India ink michaels professional
Professional paints contain more pigment and tend to have extra ingredients to improve consistency and surface quality. They're useful for sketching and more affordable for big projects that require lots of paint. The latter contain less pigment and have a more plastic-looking surface when dry. The first thing you'll need to decide to choose the best acrylic paints for you is to decide whether you're looking for professional or student paints, like the last option on our list. Acrylics can also be combined with other water-based media – I find it's often useful to use watercolour pencils for initial drawings as they won’t muddy the colours. They're also very versatile, serving a range of different uses.

As we've noted above, they're quick and easy to set up and learn to use, and they don't require the addition of solvents. Water-based acrylic paints have a number of advantages. They're quite slow drying as well, especially in thicker applications, which makes them a little more forgiving when attempting to blend paint or use impasto techniques. Otherwise, these acrylics are well pigmented for their cost and provide decent coverage. Out of the tube, the colours look fine and lay down well onto paper, but I’ve found they tend to dry a bit lighter. The sets are good value and provide a large selection of colours for their price – and if you're buying individual tubes, there are more colours in this range than most student paints. Amsterdam acrylics offer a solid student-level range, and the best acrylic paint for students looking for lots of colours.
