One of the biggest complaints about laser cut items is the difficulty of painting the dark edges. The problem is two fold; the edges of wood are more absorbent than the flat surface and the soit bleads through paint. The combination makes it hard to get good coverage on the dark edges. Here are some tips to help with this issue:
Sanding:
- When possible sanding the dark edge off will improve the situation. This won't fix the absorbtion issue but you won't be trying to paint over black.
The problem is it is not always easy to sand the edges, not to mention it is a tedious task
Coating:
- Coating/sealing the edges is often easier and it fixes two problems at once. I coat the edges with a THIN layer of white glue and let them completely dry before painting my pieces. This seals the edge and binds the soit. The edges are still black but they cover much more easily.
High quality paint:
- Not all craft paints are the same. The variability can come from the pigment and the viscosity, amoung other things. A thicker paint with fine pigment does a better job coveing dark colors.
Staining the wood:
- If you want to stain the wood you MUST sand rather than use the glue technique, as the glue will not absorbe the stain. If you are doing a medium to dark stain the black edges just don't show that much, so I leave them alone.
Original rocking horse which is for sale on my Etsy site