Lacquer over wax-based paint?

[muns53]

Hi all,

My son is building a unique guitar (there is an "in progress" thread with pictures) that uses encaustic paint, which is wax-based. Here is the manufacturer's website: http://www.rfpaints.com/products/encaustic

Obviously the wax paint is soft and will scrape right off of the guitar in normal use without protection. The plan was to use regular clear lacquer because we could not get a response from artists using the protecting the paint (usually it goes into a painting frame and not used as a guitar, lol!). Specifically, he would use Stew-Mac spray cans - a layer of "Sanding Sealer" first then numerous layers of "Clear Gloss" over it.

He did trial spray a couple of layers of just the lacquer on another piece that he had painted on a canvas. It appeared to work but the wax paint was still "dentable" - our thought was that with numerous layers it would cure and harden and protect it.

An experienced forum member suggested that the lacquer may not adhere well to the wax paint so I thought I'd throw out a question here to get more visibility on the issue and possibly get more advice.

Thanks in advance for your input!

 

[stratamania]

Have a look at my reply to the other thread, I posted an idea that may be worth thinking about.

 

[Tonar8352]

First let me say that I have never worked with the finish that is being used on the guitar but I do know a little about paint and lacquer.

Shellac is the classic barrier coat for surfaces that need to keep something from bleeding through to the top coat, it holds back crayon, grease, or smoke.  You would need to make sure that you use a clear shellac as it can vary in color a lot.

The problem I see with putting lacquer on top of all of that is it will be too soft of a surface for the hard lacquer finish so it will crack as it cures. Think of laying a mirror on a bed mattress and then walking on it, the mirror will shatter because the soft surface will not support the hard glass. This will probably not happen right away but it will eventually do it as the surface ages. Now; that might not be a bad thing and some people like the look of a crazed(cracked) old lacquer finish.

Last but not least as a finisher I do things with lacquer that I am never suppose to do according to the manufactures recommendation. For instance my son is also an Artist and an Art Professor. He had this crazy idea to do a painting with me doing a white burst going from clear to solid white on the outside edge. He used Jesso as his base and color coats and then I used white lacquer for the burst and then clear to get it all to melt together. It's working! I am currently spraying the finishing coats of clear right now.

So, I say break the rules and see what happens.  :icon_thumright:

 

[muns53]

Thanks stratamania and tonar8353! We are going to try the shellac approach and see what happens.

 

[stratamania]

Ok, I'd be interested to see how it turns out.

 

[Cagey]

Me, too. I can't imagine anything sticking to wax, no matter how hard it gets. I suspect it will even resist the charms of shellac.

Some finishes are simply unsuitable for some applications, and I suspect this is one of them. No matter how attractive it is, it's simply inappropriate for the duty at hand. Kinda like painting your car with latex or water colors. Might be easy and/or look great, but it's just wrong and there's no way to make it right.

Of course, there are always wallflowers, or what some call "coffee table" guitars, where they're just so beautiful you only look at them. Don't touch!

 

[bagman67]

I am betting on finish failure, too - but it's certainly a fun experiment to watch.  I'm gonna fall back on my earlier suggestion of carnauba wax as the least likely thing to end in finish failure - but that's pretty fragile, too, in a guitar application.  Essentially your base coat is your problem, not your topcoat.  But it's art, so roll with it!

 

[Cagey]

Could end up "authentically" relic'd due to wear (albeit accelerated). That is, it will truly look worn, as opposed to 99% of the fake "worn" finishes that are clearly just deliberately and obviously wrecked. In that case, somebody will get that special feeling in their pants and offer some surprising amount of money for it. "This thing clearly has mojo in the bank! I gotta have it!"

 

[muns53]

Yeah, the wax paint itself is very "3D" so the normal rules don't apply in any sense of the word on this paint job, lol!