Painting carvings

Finishing carved items with varnish or poly looks good in wood but sometimes you don't want the finished work to look like the base material.  Reading sign makers forums this leads inevitably to vinyl paint mask such as Oracal Oramask.  Unfortunately that's not available locally and it's costly to have it sent to my address.  The good news is a decent substitute is available at Walmart.  If you live in North America one of these stores is probably nearby.  The product used in this post is a removable adhesive covering and the brand name Con-Tact The most common use of this product is probably keeping sticky/stainy items from ruining shelves.

    My usual poor photography on display again.  For example the thin white oval inside the Ford emblem is near razor sharp, not like the jagged thing you see here.
Here's a step-by-step of the globe-like item in the picture:
1) After sanding the plywood 2 coats of white oil-based enamel were applied. Good old Tremclad in the rattle-can.

2) Allow the paint to dry fully before applying the vinyl.  The directions aren't very specific about how to apply.  What worked best for me was lining up one edge and slowly peeling off the backing film while pressing the vinyl against the work.  Hurrying this process resulted in air bubbles, lots of them.  The 'arrow' part wasn't covered with vinyl.

3) Time to carve.  I used a sharp v-bit and cut without using the dust boot.  My thinking was the brush might lift the vinyl and I also didn't want the sticky adhesive on the brush.  The vinyl cut fairly clean and any fuzzies were trimmed with a utility knife blade.

4) Once the cutting/clean-up was complete another coat of white Tremclad was applied.  This way if any paint was to seep beneath the vinyl it wouldn't be noticeable in the final product.

5) After about an hour it was time to spray the blue.  Oil-based enamel,  Ford Blue if you haven't already guessed.

6) Now it's time to carefully remove the mask to expose the white beneath, a razor and a dental pick help here.  The blue paint was allowed to dry to the point where it was unlikely to smear but not nowhere near fully cured.  A few hours ?  It was a pretty thick coat.  If you wait too long before removing the mask it could bond permanently with the top coats of paint and make ragged edges.

7) There were some small traces of glue remaining on the white surface.  Paint thinner cleaned those up easily.  Alcohol would also work.  Probably best  to do this after all the paint is really well cured.

The globe-thingy is a model for a weathervane.  The finished item will be cut from pvc sheet instead of plywood.