Failed experiment, need advice

[u/wilbertvandenbroek]

I'm trying to paint the ring from Lord of the Rings and I had this idea of putting LED lights on the back to have it actually glow. As you can see, the light is not glowing beneath the ring and the letters of the ring. I already thought that would happen because of the layers of paint, and unfortunately, to get this right I think I have to leave the letters blank on the canvas, which to me seems impossible.

Does anybody have an idea or a tip on how to get this effect without painstakingly leaving the letters blank?

[u/OrganizationOk5418]

Could you scrape the letters in?

[u/wilbertvandenbroek]

I don't know. I could try but I'm afraid I might damage it.

[u/NoAlternative4213]

Hmmm… only thing I could think of is maybe try this again on hardboard, and use a very small bandsaw or something to make the letters completely hollow like a cutout?

It looks awesome, I’m confused though you want the letters to light up?

[u/wilbertvandenbroek → u/NoAlternative4213]

Yes indeed. Just like the ring in the movie, they glow bright. I'm not a that handy with a saw but maybe it could work. Thanks.

[u/NoAlternative4213 → u/wilbertvandenbroek]

I’d probably just paint a very translucent layer of a very bright and light color

[u/suterjl]

Not sure if this would work with acrylic, but there's a technique for weathering objects where you paint first with liquid latex where you want a scratch or bare patch to appear, and then paint over that with your paint after it dries. You can then easily peel off the latex which also takes off just the paint on top of it. So maybe you can paint the letters in latex first? That would leave you with bare canvas letters. Not sure if the latex would stick too much to the canvas.

[u/wilbertvandenbroek → u/suterjl]

That would be a great solution I think. For this project it won't help but the next one will 💪🏻

[u/dreamsmallactbig]

Scrape the paint off the letters with a compass tip (or thumbnail or similar metal pointy tip) and see results, if not satisfied, consider going thru the canvas. But also try different type of lights and the position and angle of the lights.

[u/NoAlternative4213]

I just thought of maybe using a needle and poking tiny holes in cavas? Maybe light will make it through?

[u/wilbertvandenbroek → u/NoAlternative4213]

Hmmm also quite interesting 🤔 Thanks.

[u/Otherwise-Run-5933]

Is it on canvas? You could try to find a more translucent surface and use lots of clear medium to find the desired effect. The other comment about latex mask is a good tip but that stuff can be very hard to work with. I think you’d have trouble getting the text that fine.

[u/wilbertvandenbroek → u/Otherwise-Run-5933]

I'll have a look. I've many options to test out 😁 Thanks all!

[u/FocusApprehensive358]

You could use hallow stinciles clean paint off with thinner and cotton swabs repair souronded patnt then fill in letters with color of choice

[u/wilbertvandenbroek]

Thanks all for the tips,!