Just One More Run

Well, here it is. The sort of finished guitar. I say "sort of" because after playing it for about a week now I noticed that the clear coat on the back of the guitar never hardened and is now imprinted with the textures of my clothing. However, I have sanded the troubled spots down and I am awaiting good weather in order to apply the new clear finish. I'm going with a different brand and I am confident it will work out well in the end. Just like printmaking, it needs just one more run. 

 Since this photo was taken I have fixed the pick-up.

I ran into a lot of problems during my original plan to stain the guitar. The stain seeped through the taped area and ruined any chance of using transparent watercolors. I ended up using acrylic paints.

It was difficult to photograph the texture on the guitar but It has a web-like pattern rather then the marbleized look I set out to get. It still looks awesome. The paint is gloss black with metallic blue which makes the whole guitar sparkle.

Souls of Nature Series

Grey Squirrel Skull (side profile) 4" x 6"

 Coyote Skull (underside) 5" x 11"

Grey Squirrel (front profile) 3" x 4 3/4"

A few months back I drew these images for a local show. I just got them back so I decided to post them. The series shows my studies of  animal skulls and the shadows they cast. They are drawn in graphite on maple wood slabs that have  been stained using watercolors.

Stain was HELL and paint isn't going better.

I spent several hours yesterday sanding, masking, and eventually staining. Problem was that the edges took the stain too dark and went blotchy. I don't think that the sealer was completely removed from the sides and ruined it. On top of that, some of the stain was pulled into my image area and I will  now have to make it work with the image. The new plan is to paint the guitar black with a marbleized finish in metallic blue.

Today I sanded the wood AGAIN and re-masking my image area. I then started to spray the guitar in black. I applied three coats but I made the same classic mistakes I read about when painting the guitar. I have drip areas and the start of the "orange peel" surface. I'm letting it dry over night and will sand down the troubled areas. I will also add a few more coats of black before applying the metallic blue.

To marbleize the blue, I will spray a coat down and then apply clear wrap over it while its still wet. The wet paint will stick to the wrap and when I pull it up it will leave a marbleized look. I may then add more coats based on the appearance.