Painting / priming sculpture

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Hi

I have a question about a sculpture I’m working on- advice would be very welcome!

I’ve built a sculpture from pine strips that I have then coated in regular wall filler to create a textured surface. I plan to keep it the white colour of the dried filler but plan on adding some small details with my airbrush.

The problem is the filler is quite crumbly on the edges and delicate in general, and I was thinking to coat the whole thing in a slightly diluted PVA/ water mix to try and strengthen the filler coating without changing the colour.

If I do this will that be a suitable surface for airbrushing onto?

I am using Vallejo Model Air acrylic colours, and just small details , no large flat colour.

As I am not sure the exact ingredients of the Model Air acrylics I just want to make sure they are ok to paint onto a surface coated in PVA?

Many thanks in advance!
 
polyvinyl acetate aka PVA will discolor causing the White you are trying to save turn more Yellow over time.
I would suggest maybe a clear varnish either flat or semi gloss depending on the final look you are going for.
Most time when I am working with wood I will take the sanding dust and mix it with PVA to make my own filler that blends more with the wood.
But Vallejo will cover over PVA
Now be a good lad and head over to the introduction section and tell us more about yourself you will find that located here : http://www.airbrushforum.org/introductions/
 
I use a product called struct-o-lite on top of some sculptures. It's gypsum based and somewhat similar to what your talking about but even more crumbly because its loaded with lightweight fillers.
The surface gets a hundred times tougher once you put a latex paint on it.
My suggestion would be to paint it all with super extra cheap white latex paint. like this
https://www.lowes.com/pd/Property-A...-Paint-Actual-Net-Contents-640-fl-oz/50404192

It's slightly whiter but otherwise you wont be able to tell you painted it. Looks almost identical to raw drywall mud. It will make it far less crumbly.
YOu can definitely airbrush onto this stuff.

We like pictures BTW
 
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That paint is also very thin and soaks in and dries to a chalky finish. The properties that make it cheapo paint make it perfect for this.
 
polyvinyl acetate aka PVA will discolor causing the White you are trying to save turn more Yellow over time.
I would suggest maybe a clear varnish either flat or semi gloss depending on the final look you are going for.
Most time when I am working with wood I will take the sanding dust and mix it with PVA to make my own filler that blends more with the wood.
But Vallejo will cover over PVA
Now be a good lad and head over to the introduction section and tell us more about yourself you will find that located here : http://www.airbrushforum.org/introductions/

Thanks so much for your advice!

I actually don’t mind the yellowing so much, as long as it stays quite pale - the detail I’m airbrushing on is actually fake mold and decay, so the yellowing would actually work ok with that! But I realised it may not be great anyway as PVA could be problematic to sand if I need to repair it in the future..

I assume artists gesso would be a suitable surface for airbrushing too?

Though it would cover the filler colour I think it also dries to a pale chalky finish that I’m looking for..
 
I use a product called struct-o-lite on top of some sculptures. It's gypsum based and somewhat similar to what your talking about but even more crumbly because its loaded with lightweight fillers.
The surface gets a hundred times tougher once you put a latex paint on it.
My suggestion would be to paint it all with super extra cheap white latex paint. like this
https://www.lowes.com/pd/Property-A...-Paint-Actual-Net-Contents-640-fl-oz/50404192

It's slightly whiter but otherwise you wont be able to tell you painted it. Looks almost identical to raw drywall mud. It will make it far less crumbly.
YOu can definitely airbrush onto this stuff.

We like pictures BTW

Great thank you! I’ll take a look at my DIY store to see if there is something similar (I’m based in the UK) - or as post above I’m also considering artists gesso as an alternative !
 
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