Question about whitewashing wood

[Keato]

Hey all,
Been a while since I've been on this and I thought I'd come back as I need help with something

I've been making puzzle names for people & they all love them though I've just received an order and instead of dipping the finished product in Danish Oil, the customer wants it 'whitewashed' and give it a vintage look

She wants the name Emily, in beech wood (about an inch thick) and its a decent sized name (stretches across landscape A4 paper at the top third.

So, my question is can anyone help me with whitewashing wood?
I've only just learnt about it today & I know it can be done to furniture with ease but with letters of a name? I thought the inside cuts would be difficult to whitewash unless I just whitewashed the surface of the uncut wood then cut the letters out and the inside would be natural beech with both surfaces whitewashed.


Need some advice

Thanks in advance

 

[Chippygeoff]

I would use white acrylic primer with a decent brush, maybe water it down a bit.

 

[loftyhermes]

I tell customers, it's a Danish oil finish or no finish if they don't want it oiled and to decorate themselves, it saves a lot of hassle getting the finish right.
happy scrolling
Steve

 

[stevebuk]

you could try a lime wash, that whitens the wood although watery acrylic should do the trick, i hope you charge a bit more for the effort to..

 

[Keato]

Hey, thanks for the advice all

I did tell the customer that I hadn't heard of it before so I would try it on a bit of scrap wood first to practice (I've got some scrap beech). If I'm unable to do it then I'll let her know (the customer is like 10 mins from where I live).

I'm not charging extra this time but possibly next if I work out a price for extra finishes and stuff like that. Currently I either dip in Danish Oil or leave plain like loftyhermes said.

I'll post pics of it when it's finished if anyone is wanting to see. I've got 3 names to cut out at the moment.

The most recent one I made was this,

 

[gilljc]

been using Sheila landry's designs for some candle trays, she uses acrylic paints with decoart antiquing staining medium, which turns the paint into a woodstain that you can vary the intensity of

 

[mac1012]

I been white washing and other colours on my angels that I sell for a few years , I just used matt emulsion tester pots from wickes or acrylic paints from wilco only 1.00 a big tube.

I don't water down just dab a bit on with a brush or tester pot brush and work into the wood with a damp craft sponge or cloth working all over piece so you get a even result , I have recently been experimenting with wood dyes that work well.

if not white enough just repeat process will prob take a couple of mins to do no longer than putting your Danish oil on so I wouldn't worry about charging extra.

dosent take long to cover the front , I would avoid doing the inside as difficult to do in tight places and time consuming , if I colour washed any of the words I make I just do the front.

make sure your wood is fairly smooth and blemish free as the white will show up any defects more.

btw when you dab paint on with brush don't put too much on and don't have your cloth really wet or it will just wipe it all off , its just a matter of practice , any paint that catches the sides of letter just rub of while wet with a piece of wet clean cloth but that doesn't happen much just don't go mad with amount of paint you use.

mark