Hi i have read an article about weathering wooden trestles with indian ink. What i am after is the correct dilution.
thanks from down under
Tony
G’Day, Mate! [:)]
To make an india ink wash, I use about a half-dozen drops or so of india ink per ounce of either distilled water or isopropyl alcohol. It doesn’t take much. Since india ink is merely carbon black in alcohol, it will settle out some over time, so be sure to stir it up a bit before using. It’s a lot easier to add more stain than to take away some. And remember, a water or alcohol (or any other) wash won’t penetrate any glue spots. It’s always a good idea to weather wood before glueing it.
Have fun!
I usually start with a mix of 50 parts alcohol to 1 part India ink.If i need it darker I will try another coat of the wash or will add another part India ink. 50 to 1 seems to work good for me though.For trestles , which are usually black from creosote I would probably go with a stronger mixture. Try it on a piece of scrap and go from there.Just remember a little goes a long,long way.For buildings I usually use a mixture of leather dyes first to yellow the wood before adding the black wash. It makes thewood look just like weathered pine. I use 5 drops of tan,4 drops of cardovan(That’s the color name) to 40 parts of alchohol.Leather dye is about $5.00 for a 1.5 oz bottle. You can alco use black dye instead of India ink.There are about 10 different browns yellows and reds you can mix to get a wide variety of colors that make the wood look very natural.Ron
I usually start with a three ounce jar of alcohol and keep adding drops of india ink until it’s the shade I want. Test on a scrap piece of wood until you get the color you want. Black and brown leather dyes from Kiwi (water based) mixed in alcohol also produces very realistic effects on wood. Again, experiment on a scrap piece of wood, mixing different proportions of both black and brown in the alcohol until you get the color you want. When mixing black with brown use the black sparingly when mixing with the brown as a drop of black goes a loooong way. I use all three of these methods either together or separately until I get the color I want. With wood it’s best to stain the parts before gluing them as stain won’t take on glue spots. If you should encounter a glue spot, just sand it and stain. Wood is so forgiving when it comes to painting.