Staining wood with acrylic paint

When you go to buy wood stain for a project, the colors to choose from are pretty much the same no matter which store you go to. I don't know about you, but I am bored with the traditional wood colors: Oak. Chestnut. Beach. Blah blah blah. . Sure, you can paint wood any color you want, but you lose the gorgeous wood grain. I wanted both the grain, and the color. So, I started playing and figured out a way to make my own stain. . And this is how it came out.

 I didn't think about blogging when I made this, so I apologize for not having pictures of each step, but I used two colors here to create a cool night sky effect in the background and used a stencil to make the image and letters. The base stain was a lime green and then I added streaks of dark blue.

Here is a close up of the grain and a textured moon. 

You can create any color stain you would like to using this method. But, before you begin, please read the whole process because there are some hidden tips that wouldn't make sense if I wrote them right here. 

Supplies  

1. Acrylic paint 

2. Water

3. Mixing container

4. Paint brush - The size depends on your project. You don't want to use a tiny brush. For this particular project, I used a size 8 rounded artist brush 

5. Rag to wipe excess stain (if need be) 

6. Wood project to stain- I recommend some scrap wood to do sample tests on 

As with anything you purchase, you get what you pay for. A better quality paint will give you better quality results. I highly recommend spending the few bucks to get professional grade artist paint. A tiny bit of professional acrylic paint will get you a LONG way. Utilize your hobby store coupons to buy good paint and invest in a good paint brush(es). 

Making your stain

        It is important that you make enough to cover your whole project with the same "batch". If you run out, it will be hard to get the same mixture to cover the remainder of your project evenly with the rest of it. 

Grab your paint, mixing container with water in it, and your brush. 

Add a small amount of paint to your water. Acrylic paints vary in viscosity so just use your judgement. The more paint you use, the more opaque the stain will be and the less grain you will see. A good mix, from my experience, is a mix of about 15% paint and 85% water. 

Mix it thoroughly in your water by dabbing your brush to the bottom of the container. This will ensure you get any chunks of paint off your brush and mixed well.

Instead of brushing on and wiping off, use your brush to "paint" it on and work the stain into the wood. I am going to do a small test on my scrap and see how it looks.

My lighting is kind of off in this picture but from here, I think it looks pretty good. There are a bunch of really small cracks starting to show up. I didn't see them before but I kind of like it!

If you like how your test looks, continue on to finish your project.

A few little things to keep in mind. . .

~ The whole thing doesn't have to be one color! Use a stencil and "stain" images or designs into the background.
~If you do layer your stains. Start with lighter colors first.
~ A technique I use- I stain the whole thing and then paint an opaque border with the paint I used to make the stain.
~ Let it dry completely before adding any vinyl

I hope this helps you broaden your horizons!