The Framers Forum

Client wants a specific colour for their moulding.

What method and paint type would you recommend?

* My wife is a painter and says she could do it by hand with a brush.
* I was thinking getting a paint sprayer (without compressor) like e.g. but not sure how homogenous the spray is with these
* Or another framer says he uses auto paint spry cans

Also. would you go for standard acrylic paint?

Thank you

I would stay away from a home repair type battery operated spray system in favor of a REAL sprayer that is operated via an air compressor. They are more reliable and flexible in their use. Also, I can soak the entire spray unit in a bucket of water or other solvent.

Yes, you will have to invest in an air compressor; however, the use of an air compressor has unlimited use in a picture framers kit. Buy once, cry only once.

BTY, I also use my same sprayer attached to an air compressor for applying gesso to raw wood.

Thanks, JFeigh

I was also unsure about the spraying quality of airless airbrushes.

Need to buy my framing equipment so compressor also oprn up to a pneumatic underpinner as opposed to foot operated. Will take this into consideration. Thank you

I paint a LOT of this type of wood. If you apply paint to it with no prep it will look awful.


It depends on what sort of finish you expect. If you want an immaculately smooth, pristine surface then you would
have to use many coats of primer to build up a surface that can be sanded back. Or even Gesso. 10+ coats is not unusual.
This amounts to a great deal of time and effort.
I use a less irksome system where I fill the grain using a generic fine surface filler which I apply with a wet brush in the
manner of shaving soap. As it dries I go over it with a J-Cloth to take the excess off and work it into the pores.
When dry I sand it down a bit with coarse sandpaper so there are no lumpy parts or 'nibs'.
Two coats of primer then go on. If you take your time filling the grain then the primer coats need minimal sanding, Just flatten any
brushmarks and dribbles with 80-120 grit paper. Flexible sanding pads are the thing.
Then you can apply the top colour coats. I use artist's acrylic, always brushed on. You can spray but frankly it's a lot of faff IMHO.
As I said, it depends on the finish you want. If I wanted a perfectly smooth surface I would tend to find a factory-finished moulding
where the prep has all been done for you and spray that. You need to establish that the paint you are spraying will 'stick' the the moulding
properly. I generally sand it back a bit and give it a 'key' coat of Shellac. Shellac is organic and porous. It will bond well to most things
and water-based paint will stick to it. *This isn't always the case so test a bit first.

To me, a painted surface that has a few textural 'imperfections' looks better than a dead flat one. That's my excuse anyway....

I'm going to endorse everything Prospero has said and emphasize two main points -

Forget the spray gun. Messy unless you're set up for it and then there's the cleaning out etc.

Listen and practise what Prospero has said about filling the grain and priming.

I'm basing this on what your customer may already have seen in your frame shop.
All your chevrons will be factory produced to a high degree of finish.
If you just layer some paint on to bare wood it might indeed be the right colour but will look awful compared to the samples on your wall.
And that might not be quite what your customer was expecting.

Thanks Prospero and Vintage Frames

Makes sense. I was planning to use a primer before painting, but the fine surface filler sounds a good first stage.