Finishing/Sanding

My colouring agent of choice for many pieces of furniture is a marking pen (Sharpie permanent chisel point is my first choice but most any will do) - particularly when I want a black or red finish.

House of Miniature Federal kits:

 Michael's hutches in black and red:

All the above pieces were stained with Sharpie markers. I prefer them to paint as there is no build up and no raised grain. (Especially love that for drawers - no problem with fit.)

Some pieces and some colours (white in particular), you have no choice but to use paint.

So often when you paint basswood with acrylic paint, the water in the paint raises the fibre of the wood and you end up with a rough surface. My best efforts to sand lightly with an emery board would end up taking up more of the paint than I wanted. That was fine if I wanted an aged look but since I usually do more contemporary pieces, that wasn't what I was looking for.

Over the years, I often saw the suggestion to sand painted wood with a piece of brown paper bag. Read it - and ignored it - on a regular basis. After all, what on earth would rubbing a surface with a piece of brown paper bag accomplish?

Then I tried it!

Oh, my goodness! It really works! And works well!

Oh, my! 3 exclamation points - am I getting the point across?

It gives a beautiful smooth finish with a lovely gloss.

I Googled it tonight and one of the messages I came up with compared it to sanding with 320 - 400 grit sandpaper.