What type of wood makes a good support

judyfilarecki wrote:

I just came across this site which has gesso specifically for rigid surfaces. It also has wood panels made of maple and douglas fir. Very interesting.

Here's the link

http://www.art-boards.com/Acrylic%20Panel%20Gesso.htm

Judy

thank you for the link on the gesso, I wonder how it really differs from traditional gesso will have to buy a bottle and do some tests. I was able to pickup, last weekend at the Woodsmith Shop in Des Moines, a quart of clear dewaxed shellac. Now the 20 million dollar question is do I need to dilute the shellac before applying to my wood surfaces?

Fwiw on that site I'm not to ripped on their raised panel board construction or even the type of plywood they are using, my husband and I have been woodworkers now for 20 and 30 years respectively. I wouldn't use anything less than 12plys for my plywood esp. if you are considering selling in the high end markets. The plywoods shown in th pics look to be 7ply with really heavy gluelines for the buildup. Another thing for those of you who are working with wood surfaces there's an archival option that's just hitting the market in the form of steamed beech plywood (12 ply so not cheap) and steamed baltic birch plywood (12 plys so again NOT cheap). My wholesale source, where we buy our woodworking lumber from, will be getting it in soon. When they do I will buy some and do some tests, we asked Woodsmith if they will be carrying it anytime soon and they weren't sure if they would or not.

I'm off I have a exhibition opening to go to in a little while, I have three pieces in the show http://www.octagonarts.org/en/exhibits/

Kimberly

Judy, looks like a great product. Thank you for sharing!

Kimberly, Good luck with the show and thank you for the tips on plywood. Let us know how the shellac works out.

Congrats on the show, Kimberly! Post some pics of your work and show info in the Extras section if you want to

Kimberly,
Thanks for the critique on the wood panels. I have baltic birch that we bought for draws and roll out shelves when we build out kitchen cabinet. It is 7 ply plus the two veneer surface. They had the 12 ply, but it was too wide for our purpose at the time.

10 years ago, I paid $60 for 4x4 sheet. I don't know what it would cost now. It has been very stable and I still have sheets left over which I am considering for painting on. I don't paint a lot of high end paintings to seel, so I figure this would serve my purpose.

One question I have is, is it necessary to buy archival baltic birch as opposed to what I have which has a very fine glue line between layers anbd is very stable? If you are sealing the wood so you paint doesn't penetrate it, doesn't the same work in reverse? The wood is sealed from the paint.

Judy

judyfilarecki wrote:

Kimberly,
Thanks for the critique on the wood panels. I have baltic birch that we bought for draws and roll out shelves when we build out kitchen cabinet. It is 7 ply plus the two veneer surface. They had the 12 ply, but it was too wide for our purpose at the time.

10 years ago, I paid $60 for 4x4 sheet. I don't know what it would cost now. It has been very stable and I still have sheets left over which I am considering for painting on. I don't paint a lot of high end paintings to seel, so I figure this would serve my purpose.

One question I have is, is it necessary to buy archival baltic birch as opposed to what I have which has a very fine glue line between layers anbd is very stable? If you are sealing the wood so you paint doesn't penetrate it, doesn't the same work in reverse? The wood is sealed from the paint.

Judy

Unfortunately the plywood on the market today is not of the same quality it was say 10 years ago. This is one of the reasons we work with the higher end baltic birch plywood (12 ply). I have pieces I've worked on from 15 years ago that were more than properly sealed and the wood started delaminating something like five years ago. Humidity is a cruel mistress to both paper and wood. As you know from selling very often, if you go through a gallery, art fair, etc., you have no real way of knowing where your work will wind up. If it ends up in say Texas on the gulf where it'll experience extreme heat and humidity conditions the risk of delamination is much higher.

Food for thought.

Kimberly

Thicker plywood is structurally improved and less prone to warp. It also increases the weight, and you still have a risk of delamination. Steam injection won't necessarily improve that risk, and tends to be more expensive.

There are other types of fabricated panel products on the market that are worth investigating. I'm particularly intrigued by Extira, which is made of 100% hardwood.
http://www.extira.com/

Thanks for the link. Interesting thought for using for painting. I looked to see if it was available any place near me at either place I live, but there are none. let us know if you try it and how it worked for you.

Judy