There is going to be 3 arches with columns etc.
The friend I am making these arches for is on a budget, so I carved them out of mdf.
Now I have the challenge to make them look like wood, I have made mdf cabinet doors look like wood but they were flat there a brush with constant motion worked fine, my concern here is the lilies will prevent constant stroke, please all help is appreciated. ps this arch is 3 feet wide by 4 high
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You’re not going to like my answer but I’ve found that the amount of work involved in woodgraining or staining intricate forms ( I used to make shoji screens for a number of years ) in time and effort never offset the savings of not using the wood I was trying to duplicate. In your case, I would just apply graining to the outer and inner frame and use the same colours to highlight the lilies and dragon. BTW, where did you get that dragon design from?
Yes sir I believe the next time I attempt to attack something like this I will do a glue up of Poplar or something but I got to finish this one as for the Dragon Etsy had a package of about four five different dragons
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Not to stick my nose in but CNCPlanetart has hundreds of high quality models for very low prices, worth taking a look at, I purchased a Mayan calendar on Etsy and it wasn’t worth the couple of bucks I paid for it.
Anyway just a thought.
Pat
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Yes I purchase there also
Never compared though guess i have a task
If you are going to do a glue up and cost is a factor ( when isn’t it?) I would go with ash over poplar, which tends to get very furry when machined, needs a lot of sanding and then still more when you apply a finish and it raises the grain. Ash on the other hand is very woody looking, often mistaken for oak ,machines well and takes a finish beautifully . It’s being cut down aggressively in an attempt to stop the Emerald ash borer so for now is readily available and usually and good prices. I’ve also seen it caramelized,comes out nice and dark like walnut but nowhere near the price.
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Wow really good information thank you very much