Friday, April 20, 2007

Gesso: the first attempt

Well, yesterday around 6pm or so, I brushed gesso on my first test figure. So far, so good. I'm rather pleased with the result. I'm including two photos below. The first is of the solitary figure, with a good closeup if you click on it to bring up the original. The second shows the same figure, but also includes my two earlier attempts in the background. The white one on the right is sprayed with white Plasti-Dip. The black one in the background was layered with plain black acrylic paint, but from an old tube, which failed to properly mix with the water I tried to mix it with. Too thin in places, too thick in others, I think.




For those who may be wondering, the gesso figure is stuck on a plastic piece which used to be one of a pair that enclosed HP printer cartridges in an earlier box design. I've got a dozen or more of them that I'd kept around with the eventual thought I'd use them for something. The figure is secured to the surface with a blob of Manco Adhesive Mounting Putty which we used to use to stick posters on the wall when I taught Sunday School several years ago. It's *supposed* to remain good pretty much forever, so we'll see how long I can keep using the same blob successfully.

Tomorrow evening, hopefully, I'll be able to try some paint on the first figure, and perhaps I'll figure out how to strip the other two so I can put gesso on them. Suggestions?

2 comments:

WSTKS-FM Worldwide said...

Hey Jonathan,

They look good! A little gesso ought to help doctor up those earlier plasti-dip experiments too. Glad it's going well.

Best Regards,

Stokes

Ken said...

I started using gesso a few months ago, on (ironically enough) some RSM95 Arnauts that will be part of my army of the Union Real de Scandalusia y Cuatrofenia (the Arnauts are from the Mooerish Dominions, and will eventually be joined by janissaries, artillery, and sipahis--the rest of the army will use Austrian and/or French SYW, I think, or I'll cheat a little and use Napoleonic bicorne Spaniards--best-looking grenadiers in the world).

I've also used it on Panzerschiffe 1/2400 scale resin ship models with good results. I know that many prefer black primer, but the white makes it easier for me to see what the sculptor intended on the figure.