Unfinished wood is the cheapest craft in this range and the easiest to get wrong. Both failures happen in the first five minutes.
Mistake one: skipping the sand
Laser-cut shapes look smooth and are not: the edge carries a fine burr and the face has raised grain. Paint lands on that, the fibres swell, and the piece dries fuzzy. Thirty seconds per side with fine paper is the whole fix.
Mistake two: one thick coat
A single heavy coat of acrylic dries faster at the surface than underneath and cracks along the edges within a day. Two thin coats, dried properly between, cover better and survive handling.
The order that works
- Sand faces and edges, wipe the dust off with a dry cloth.
- Prime only if you are painting light over a dark grain; otherwise skip it.
- First thin coat, dry an hour.
- Second thin coat, dry overnight before anything touches it.
- Thread rope or ribbon through the pre-drilled holes now, before the last detail work.
- Seal with a matte acrylic varnish only if it will be handled, hung outdoors under cover, or given away.
Doing it with children
Pre-sand everything yourself, put out fewer colours than you think, and give each child a paper plate as a palette. The pieces in this range are large and simple on purpose, because small detail is what makes a child give up halfway.
What not to do
- Do not use watercolour: it soaks in and the shape goes soft.
- Do not leave a wet piece flat on paper; it glues itself down.
- Do not put unsealed wood outside, even under a porch, if rain reaches it.
Shop the wood blanks, or see finished examples in the gallery.