Decorating Guides

How to Glaze Using a Gel Stain

When you cemented a stained finish, it offers a way to deepen the colour, alter it or include antiquing consequences. You can use glazing chemical and include your seeds or you can do what many woodworkers use and do use gel stain instead. As a penetrating pigment stain like liquid stain, gel stain’s thick consistency makes it an excellent double for a glazing compound. The secret to beautiful glazing is appropriate preparation of the wood.

Gel Stain Enhancements

Gel stains don’t penetrate unfinished wood as deeply as liquid stains, which makes them more suitable for staining wood with knots and other grain irregularities. When you apply a gel stain to unfinished hardwood, you wipe it on with a cloth or sponge, make it time to sink, wipe the gel off with another cloth, leaving only a layer of coloured wood. The process is the same once you use gel stain as a glaze, however, the distinction is that the wood already includes a finish, and it may already be stained.

Glaze Planning

Before you apply a gel stain, it’s important to seal the wood with a finish; staining the wood seals it into your level, but it also ought to have a picture finish. A coat of lacquer sanding sealer or shellac is perfect, but you might also glaze over a coat of water-based acrylic or polyurethane. To prepare the wood for glazing, apply the stain, then allow it to dry for one to two hours, then apply one coat of finish. Sand the end with 220-grit sandpaper once it dries. This provides the smooth substrate that you require for glazing.

The Stain Color

If you want your glaze to provide color overtones and shading, you must use one that’s either the same colour as the wood stain or one that’s darker. You can also alter the hue of the base color by utilizing an appropriate gel stain. As an instance, utilizing a Cabinet gel stain to glaze over a pine cabinet stained with a golden oak stain gives the cabinet a reddish tinge, and that will make it even more at home in a room with a sunset motif featuring terra-cotta colours and indirect light. Another strategy is to add frosting by glazing with a white or light gray gel stain.

Stain Application and Protection

Because the wood already includes a finish, you don’t have to take care when applying a gel-stain glaze. Wipe the gel over the surface you’re glazing at a circular movement, and if you’re aiming for shading effects, perform it into corners and crevices around trim along with other capabilities. The sum you wipe off with another cloth controls the shading as well as the tone of this finial finish. Always wipe with the wood grain and avoid leaving streaks. Give the stain eight hours or more to dry before protecting it with a coat of the finish of your choice.

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