Acrylic Gesso vs Ripple Paint

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GeoSpectrum
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Acrylic Gesso vs Ripple Paint

Post by GeoSpectrum »

I wonder what others though about the benefits or other wise of using acrylic gesso vs ripple paint on frames? Can ripple paint be ragarded as 'Gesso' as perhaps the only significant difference between the two is the carrier i.e. Acrylic resins vs water assuming the pigment is very similar.

I find ripple paint easier to sand and as such is softer than acrylic gesso, and prefer it for that reason.

Any thoughts?
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Re: Acrylic Gesso vs Ripple Paint

Post by prospero »

I came to the same conclusion many years ago. Acrylic gesso sets as hard as hell's door-knockers and
while it's OK for doing textured finishes it's hard to sand it flat. I used to pre-paint moulding in the length
using AG. I would stroke it with a wide brush from end-to-end (without wiggling) which forms 'tramlines'.
This is actually quite good for some purposes. A thin color wash with a sanding back and a wax makes a nice effect.
Tinting the white can also work well.You can only tint it so far though...

Proper gesso sands very easily. Ripple paint is somewhere between the two, but more like proper gesso than acrylic.

I do use Black acrylic gesso and it's great stuff for textured finishes. A thin coat followed by a full-strength coat
is all you need to build a heavy texture. But to build a smooth base takes a lot of thin-ish coats which adds to the
labour costs considerably.
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GeoSpectrum
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Re: Acrylic Gesso vs Ripple Paint

Post by GeoSpectrum »

thanks for that. do you think they ripple paint can be described as 'gesso'? If applied as such, i.e. Layered and sanded to a smooth finish which ripple paint is very good for. As I understand it 'gesso' just means 'gypsum' so might be quite generic. I think the carrier weather RSG, acrylic water or whatever is neither here nor there.

Sorry to the RSG purists! :)
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Re: Acrylic Gesso vs Ripple Paint

Post by prospero »

For water gilding there is no substitute for real gesso. The method goes back to the ancient Egyptians. :)

Ripple paint, whether you call it gesso or not, does essentially the same job. Filling the grain and forming a
basis for a finish. It's a question of expediency, no soaking the bunny glue and heating the stuff. Just take the lid
off and stick your brush in. It also has other uses like dusty washes. All-in-all very versatile stuff for frame finishing
purposes.
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Re: Acrylic Gesso vs Ripple Paint

Post by Jamesnkr »

Are you worried about the trades description act/whatever? I doubt anybody would care as it's all about what the final finish looks like, not whether it's made from actual gesso or non-actual (?!) gesso. You could call it synthetic gesso?

Gesso is whiting (chalk or gypsum) in RSG. Acrylic gesso just isn't gesso as it doesn't follow the recipe. (Much as artificial silk ain't silk. Do people still call it that?) I'd argue that ripple paint is acrylic gesso too. A prime feature of gesso is that it is an absorbent surface; ripple paint just ain't and I very much doubt whether your 'acrylic gesso' is even remotely absorbent either.
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Re: Acrylic Gesso vs Ripple Paint

Post by vintage frames »

Well said, GeoSpectrum. Gesso is just a mix of chalk, gypsum or other calcium carbonate and a binder.
If you're using it as a ground for gilding, you need the smoothest finish possible to achieve the best results. And to get that finish requires a lot of sanding - a bit like auto body repair work. Prospero is right in saying that acrylic gesso sets so hard as to be difficult to sand. His ripple paint is a much better substitute. Essentially you want a gesso that will fill and hide the wood grain and build to an alabaster finish.
The only limiting factor is finish absorbency. With acrylic or ripple paint, which is non absorbent, you wouldn't be able to PVA glue on any ornaments and you certainly wouldn't be able to water-gild. With a synthetic gesso such as this, the gilding is applied using a sticky varnish (gold size) which remains on the surface of the gesso.
With watergilding you would only use RSG gesso. This is because the gold leaf is floated onto the surface with water. The natural gesso then absorbs the water, pulling down the gold and at the same time re-activating the RSG binder to use as a glue.
Water gilding gives a mirror like finish and allows for a much wider range of effects than oil-gilding.
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