"How to use a wash on wood stain" Topic

Built a wooden siege tower and I'd like to use a wood stain on it. The stain does not darken and highlight the creases and seams on it's own. How can I do this?

A guy at Historicon taught me a trick. Paint the piece flat black. then dry brush with a light tan Apple Barrel paint from Walmart. THEN use the stain. Makes even plastic look like real wood. I used it for my ancient and medieval plastic siege stuff…it still fools people.

To clarify the siege tower is made of wood. ( chop, popsicle, and stirring sticks )

Wood stain like the stain you buy at home depot? or is it a kind of color from a miniature paint maker?

With real wood, your best bet is thinned out dark brown acrylic paint.

This somehow reminds me of the need to paint real rocks to look like miniature real rocks.

Yes, stain from the hardware store. I'm thinking cedar looks the best. However if it can't be done I'll try what Rich suggested.

Try mixing whatever color your looking for, with isopropyl alcohol and spraying the wood with that mixture.
Ink is better than paint here. Several different colored sprays will be better than just one.
This is what model RR guys do to age wood.

Also note that dried glue resists staining, so the areas around glued seams can look oddly mottled or just refuse to absorb stain. This is the main reason I also started to paint for a stained wood effect, rather than using real wood stain.

If you seal the entire model first, you can use a pigmented stain instead. This is the type of stain I used to make the wood grain pattern in my fiberglass front door look like real wood. OTOH, this technique isn't any different from priming, painting, and staining with ink….