I have a wood structure (real wood - Campbell's) that has already been stained a medium brown (wood) color. I would like to weather and age this structure to more of a grey weather beaten color.
How can I accomplish this without resorting to paint? I am afraid that a paint would clog the grain in the wood, the nail holes, etc. and hide all the details. In other words it would look like paint instead of aged wood.
Experiences appreciated.
Thanks,-John
Take a water based white paint, and thin it down ( and I mean way down ) - and use it like a ink wash - you basicaly want it to be almost transparent, and do it in layers, stopping when you get it where you want it.
Experament a bit with some extra wood, until you get it right - remember on some types of heavily weathered wood, you have to be realy close to see any grain, will appear an almost uniform grey. Other areas of the wood that are not as exposed will see little weathering, and may show the grain for many years, and depending on what you are trying to achive, that may be all you need to suggest that the grain is there, on the weathered wood, but, is hidden due to being exposed to the elements.
I agree. I use a grey wash to simulate dirt and dust on the wood. Also grey is the color wood weathers to.
Use the color of your dirt to show where it has splashed up from the ground. Use dark to simulate water stain--running down from the eaves and corners of windows.
The most improtant thing is to drive around and look at how stained wood buildings weather.
Ultimately you have to take a leap of faith in your abilities and go for it.
Chip
Building the Rock Ridge Railroad with the slowest construction crew west of the Pecos.
http://www.ares-server.com/Ares/Ares.asp?MerchantID=RET01229&Action=Catalog&Type=Product&ID=80873
I don't know if this will work on wood that's already been stained. Might be worth a shot.
I have a small can of white wood stain. It's thinner than paint, and doesn't hide wood details. For gray, old wood I mix in a bit of India Ink. For creosote-dipped black timbers, I mix in more India Ink.
If you're really trying to turn a brown building into a gray one, I'd first mix a bit of the plain white stain with some thinner and apply it to lighten (think sun-bleaching) the wood. The put on a thin second coat with some India Ink to give it a gray tone.
I've also been playing with weathering powders. I've mostly been darkening things with black and rust tones, but I would think that a lighter-shade powder would lighten things up. Remember that you'll probably need to seal a powder-weathered structure with Dul-Cote to keep the powder from rubbing off on your hands, so be prepared to mask off windows or they'll end up cloudy.
It takes an iron man to play with a toy iron horse.
Hi Rusty,
The best way to get that lovely silvery grey patina of old weathered wood is to stain it that way in the first place.
the effect on this barn was achieved with India/alcohol ink wash and some weathering powders plus some soft pencil shading.
This would be very hard to achieve over an already brown stained structure. To get the finish you want, you are either going to have to cover the existing finish, or remove some of the existing finish. I suspect that adding washes over the exiting brown may simply end up with a darker shade than you want. I would be tempted to try and remove some of the brown with light sanding. This may not be possible due to details like clapboard, but I think it is the approach that I would use. If you can get some of the bare wood showing again, then the India ink wash might work for you.
The other way I might try is to lightly spray the thing grey or white with a mat primer (rattle can type spray can). Once dry then go at it with the ink wash.
I would experiment with some scrap siding material stained brown in the same way to see if either method achieves the effect you want.
Simon Modelling CB&Q and Wabash See my slowly evolving layout on my picturetrail site http://www.picturetrail.com/simontrains and our videos at http://www.youtube.com/user/MrCrispybake?feature=mhum
MisterBeasley wrote: I have a small can of white wood stain. It's thinner than paint, and doesn't hide wood details. For gray, old wood I mix in a bit of India Ink. For creosote-dipped black timbers, I mix in more India Ink.If you're really trying to turn a brown building into a gray one, I'd first mix a bit of the plain white stain with some thinner and apply it to lighten (think sun-bleaching) the wood. The put on a thin second coat with some India Ink to give it a gray tone.I've also been playing with weathering powders. I've mostly been darkening things with black and rust tones, but I would think that a lighter-shade powder would lighten things up. Remember that you'll probably need to seal a powder-weathered structure with Dul-Cote to keep the powder from rubbing off on your hands, so be prepared to mask off windows or they'll end up cloudy.
Mr. B,
I assume water based stain right? I have used some brown oil based stains with india ink for staining my ties, etc...give a clumpy/diry look from the droplets of india ink that don't dissolve. For this application though, I would think a water based stain would be best... just to clairfy. If so, this method may only work if the PREVIOUS stain was water based.... Thanks for any clarification/thoughts.. I will need to do this too, so I am very interested in responses.
Brian