I’m back at it, trying to figure out the best method to stain two different colors. I’m making a sign for my friend’s father and I want to make the letters darker than the rest of the sign. Do you have a preferred method? I always get bleeding in the letters.
I made this for a relative. I used semi-gloss black paint in the letters. I then sanded the surface to remove the excess paint. I then used a minwax stain (cherry) and then several coats of clear gloss. I don’t know if this is the type of thing you are looking for.
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I am by no means an expert with finishes, but I have had really good success with signs, by preparing the work before carving. I mean go ahead and stain the entire piece, then apply three or four coats of lacquer. So the piece of wood you place in the X-Carve is already nicely finished. Then you carve the letters out.
Now you can use a dark stain or paint in the letter cuts and any paint or stain that is on the surface will just wipe away. Let the letters dry and apply a final coat of lacquer.
The only downside with this method is if you mess up the carve you have wasted a lot of time preparing the work. So you may want to prepare one piece and then do a test carve on a scrap piece first before carving the final finished piece,
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