How to Shellac Paper for Oil Painting

[@plantagenant]

Quick drying acrylic varnish, the type woodworkers use will work as an effective primer too.

[@holmesoffice5231]

I have been painting oil sketches on card and paper for years..I never thought of using shellac. Thanks so much for this.

[@citizent6999]

Love the Mozart in the background.

[@amyhauser9459]

I'm painting my 'cool' side of the Carlsen lesson today - on shellacked paper! ;-) Love your shellac'd (?shellacked) paper! Awesome tip.

[@aimeeericksonstudio1463]

Glad you like it!

[@vincentmonet6172]

Great, thanks, Aimee. Will def try this!

[@justinholdrenstudios]

Great tips! I tried working in oil on paper with shellac awhile back and loved it! I love the toned papers in tan and gray for mixed media sketching as well when traveling and using black ink, alcohol marker, and white ink

[@mayukhbanerjee1147]

Can we make this shellac thing at home? Or will gesso work?

[@erincadena5549]

Thank you for this demo Aimee!

[@jasperlotushawkins7607]

Thank you for this demo! 🙏🏽⭐️

[@aimeeericksonstudio1463]

You’re welcome!

[@Fatimahart.24]

thank you so much this is so helpful

[@vincentmonet6172]

Game changer! 😅🥳

[@pinkypromise111]

In the 60’s they used to shellac pocketbooks and magazine pictures on the wall . Is this how they did it ? Wanted to put fashion pics on wall with the shellac but I don’t recall how we did it in school .

[@aimeeericksonstudio1463]

For that I would use Mod Podge. Shellac isn’t adhesive.

[@pinkypromise111]

@@aimeeericksonstudio1463 Thank you!👍🏻

[@MichaelCarter]

I like your painting, too. I just bought a can of clear shellac on amazon with a gift card that almost paid everything. Better than rabbit skin glue.

[@cosmicfxx]

Any idea how archival shellac is … how long will it last?

[@gingeregbert633]

Thanks Aimee for this video! I have 2 questions... After your oil paint is cured/dry on the shellac-ed surface, is it possible to apply oil varnish or cold wax over top? Or what about applying another coat of shellac on top of the oil? I typically use Gamvar Satin, or Gamblin Cold Wax Medium on my mixed media paintings, and am just curious how I could incorporate Shellac into my current process.

[@aimeeericksonstudio1463]

Hi Ginger. Varnish or cold wax, yep, those would be good final coats. I have never tried putting shellac over oil...not sure that's a good idea

[@miastilwellhinchey1471]

What kind of craft paper is this please? Thanks do much

[@ianbruce6515]

Shellac can get old and not dry properly. Best not to buy too big a can. Furniture makers and French Polishers make up their shellac fresh from shellac flakes and alcohol for this reason. I don't imagine that it's that critical for priming paper. Also, if you are doing a large more important painting on shellacked plywood, you might want to make sure that the shellac you are using is 'dewaxed' and contains no 'stearates', which could lead to adhesion problems long term. Pure shellac is very compatible with any coating that is not alcohol based (it remains indefinitely soluble in alcohol).

[@hellomate639]

It's worth noting that mixing shellac yourself is trivial. Everclear, food scale, Mason jar, shellac flakes and you're done. Mix according to ratio on package... probably lower for this application. It looks amazing, goes in amazingly.

[@joannschoenleber813]

Aimee can I use this for acrylic sketches?? Thanks for sharing Your paintings are just beautiful

[@aimeeericksonstudio1463]

Joann, I don't have enough experience to give you a definitive answer. However, I have tried it out and my one experiment worked really well. If you try it, let me know your results.

[@joannschoenleber813]

Hey I’ll let you know Aimee!! This is such a great idea thank you 🙏

[@spencerbrainard2469]

@@joannschoenleber813 How did it go? I would be curious to know how a water-based paint goes over a shellac-ed surface...

[@FiddleSticks800]

Do you find that oil paints adhere well to shellac over time?

[@susanhong-sammons1225]

What is the negative if I don't shellac my sketchbook pages before doing an oil sketch? (p.s. love your art and your KZbin posts. Hope you have time to add more posts)

[@CelesteGoldfish]

oil paints are acidic so the paint will degrade the fibers over time; its the same principle with oil on canvas, if you want your works to last for a good amount of time there needs to be some kind of "sealant" to protect the base layer.

[@omdraws7325]

The oil binder will be absorbed into the paper, so then the paints will lack lustre, with your painting appearing dull/appearing matte. The oil will eventually make the paper deteriorate. Since you can obtain water based zero voc shellac, and it’s so inexpensive plus it dries within minutes..it’s worth sealing whatever drawing, watercolour or plain paper, prior to applying shellac. If your artwork turns out well.. you can cut it out of sketchbook and mount it on a panel, using an acrylic medium or a wheat or rice glue. Handy!

[@Tristanizan]

Clever idea! Are you using a fast drying medium when painting in the sketchbook?

[@aimeeericksonstudio1463]

Nope. Just oil paint

[@kathleendenis4785]

Why shellac instead of gesso the paper? What does the shellac do? Thanks Aimee

[@aimeeericksonstudio1463]

Gesso works too. The water in the gesso can warp the paper, and the surface texture is different from shellacked paper.

[@kathleendenis4785]

@@aimeeericksonstudio1463 that makes sense. Thanks much

[@chanhee2281]

Hi Aimee, thanks for sharing! Also is moleskin sketchbook the heavy weight 200gsm water colour sketchbook? We only can get shellac amber colour. Hope this colour isn't too dark.

[@aimeeericksonstudio1463]

The amber colored shellac is great too. It all ends up getting painted over anyway! This is the moleskine heavy sketch.

[@chanhee2281]

@@aimeeericksonstudio1463 thankyou for answering my question. : ) Loving the shellac on paper. So easy.

[@denisebusony891]

Thanks for this, Aimee! Quick question, if you happen to like what has been painted on this paper, is there a way to mount it for framing?

[@aimeeericksonstudio1463]

Yep. Any of the usual ways of mounting paper are fine. That’s another topic with its own technical questions, so I won’t go into detail here, other than to suggest looking into spray adhesive, rubber cement, tape hinges, and heat activated adhesive.

[@denisebusony196]

@@aimeeericksonstudio1463 ok. No worries about specifics. Just good to know some options!

[@susanwilliamson6952]

Didn’t clean the brush after shellacking the paper. Let the brush sit for a good half hour but didn’t seem to soften up at all. Using the Zinzer

[@aimeeericksonstudio1463]

Well darn! Try this-after shellacking, rinse the brush in denatured alcohol (I keep an inch or so in a peanut butter jar for this) before letting it dry.

[@susanwilliamson6952]

@@aimeeericksonstudio1463 Thank you, Aimee. Love painting on this surface.

[@mitchellwebster2392]

I HACE LOTS OF FULL SHT CP WATERCOLOR PAPER 140 LB, DO YOU THINK THIS WOULD WORK WITH WATERCOLOR PAPER? IT IS 100 % COTTON RAG. PAINTINGS ON WC PAPER WOULD TAKE UP FAR LESS SPCE THAN CANVASES OR WOOD PANELS

[@aimeeericksonstudio1463]

Oh yes. Then if you wanted to frame it you could adhere the paper to a panel and use a traditional frame.

[@mitchellwebster2392]

@@aimeeericksonstudio1463 THANK YOU SO MUCH AIMEE, I DO WC PAINTING FOR YRS NOW (SINCE 1978) I REALLY HAVE ENOUGH WC PAPER FOR A LIFETIME+ :-) I LOVE OIL PAINTING BUT THE COST OF WOOD PANELS/CANVASES. THIS HELPS ME SO MUCH! THANK YOU FOR YOUR REPLY!

[@waleezeart4295]

If all i can find is shellac primer (it is water based) would that work as well? It is white.

[@aimeeericksonstudio1463]

I don't know what that is. Not knowing, I really can't say.

[@starbucks1971]

I have a question I bought paper for oil painting, but if I apply sellac to the paper, will it have a similar effect to applying Jetso?

[@aimeeericksonstudio1463]

Paper prepared with either Gesso or shellac is good for oil painting, but they have different qualities. Gesso is water based and makes a coating which adheres to the surface of the paper. Shellac soaks in and coats the paper fibers. The main thing I like about shellac is that it doesn’t warp the paper. It also preserves a papery texture, which is nice to paint on

[@starbucks1971]

@@aimeeericksonstudio1463 The reason I asked this question is... I purchased paper specifically for oil painting. This was because the paper absorbed too much paint. It absorbs too much, so I use a lot of medium oil and oil paint. Can I reduce the absorption if I use sellac? I've been stressed about this problem for a month.

[@aimeeericksonstudio1463]

@@starbucks1971 Ah. Yes. Shellac will solve this. Try one application, and see if you like it better. If it's still too absorbent, apply a second pass--this time it will sit on top rather than soaking in, and will be much less absorbent.

[@craftydolphin8204]

Big fan of you please reply

[@aimeeericksonstudio1463]

?

[@pmnirmal6052]

Oh! The background music is too loud ! Difficult to concentrate on what you say!

[@marshellebackes]

I really wanted to watch this but your music is so loud, I can't hear you narrate without turning it way up, making the music uncomfortably loud. 😢

[@aimeeericksonstudio1463]

I am turning on auto-generated captions! Hope that helps.

[@Patto459]

Turn your music down

[@aimeeericksonstudio1463]

Thanks for the tip!

[@steztoyz]

🤣

[@FiddleSticks800]

I like the music. It’s fancy.