How can I paint an old canoee to look like birchbark? It is just a showpiece I have set up in the yard. Thank you
Pretty simple really…
just go to your nearest paint store or Home Depot & tell them you need a gallon of birchbark paint. (make sure you tell them to mix it well)
Failing that…
just chop down a birch tree, put it in your yard, and paint it to look like a canoe.
Not Black and White
If you want it to look like a real bark canoe, don’t use black and white paint. Birch bark canoes were constructed with the white side facing in and the buff tan bark interior facing out. The seams were sealed with dark pitch. Sometimes decorations were etched into the bark on the exterior.
For some idea of what they looked like check out this book at your local library…
The Bark Canoes and Skin Boats of North America (Bulletin (United States National Museum), 230.)
Tappan Adney,Howard I. Chappelle,Edwin Tappan Adney,Howard Irving Chapelle
Seems pretty cut and dry to me.
Please excuse the pun. Here are some examples:
http://www.barkcanoe.com/portfolio.htm
Prime the surface, do a terracotta tint sponge wash over the entire boat, then with a 1" brush paint your “seams” on with a deep red to brown paint. Maybe that’s not the look you were thinking of?