Jrzeegrl Posted September 21, 2012 Share Posted September 21, 2012 It has been a long time coming but I am working on my second house and I don't have any experience with wood shingles (cedar shake look) and wondering if I can use Minwax stain on them (since I would like the color to be close to the color of other woodwork). If yes, what is a better method for staining them, the soak 'em in a gallon jug or stain after they are glued on to the MDF roof? Any and all suggestions are truly appreciated. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jdodyd Posted September 21, 2012 Share Posted September 21, 2012 The staining them in the plastic gallon jug method worked fine for me. I'd be worried about getting stain on other parts of the dollhouse if I stained the shingles after putting them on. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jrzeegrl Posted September 21, 2012 Author Share Posted September 21, 2012 Thank you for your response Joy, good point about stain being messy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fov Posted September 21, 2012 Share Posted September 21, 2012 Yes you can stain them with regular stain. If the shingles are cedar then they might not come out looking exactly like the rest of the wood, since the wood has a different color to begin with. You might do a test first to make sure you like it. (This happened to me recently with a log cabin, here are pics. The shingles and the plywood underneath were stained with the same color but the shingles looked much more brown, the plywood much more gray.) It's messy to dump shingles into stain but is the quickest way to do a big batch. When I've done this, I wore gloves, removed handfuls of shingles from the stain, wiped them off on a paper towel and then laid them out on paper shopping bags to dry. Best to do this outside because of the fumes and the mess. Another option is to stain each shingle individually with a stain pen. It's less messy than the other method, may or may not take longer depending on how many shingles you have to do. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jbnmini Posted September 21, 2012 Share Posted September 21, 2012 OK, call me a glutton for punishment, but I plan on staining my shingles after they have been glued onto the house. I will wrap the house in plastic first, then very carefully brush on my stain.....be sure to ask me if it works. LOL I actually did this with a reno house and it worked ok - we'll see if I get away with it on the Alexandria! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sparklepuppies Posted September 21, 2012 Share Posted September 21, 2012 One thing to watch out for doing it afterwards is that stain does not stick to glue. So you would have to be very careful and not get any glue on the shingles, or it won't stain right. I know I always have glue oozing out the sides, even when I use miniscule amounts of glue. It's one of my talents I guess... 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Minsanity Posted September 21, 2012 Share Posted September 21, 2012 I followed Gina's suggestion and made a paper template of the roof, glued the singles to that, then stained them before they went on the roof. I did not have an issue with the glue and stain not taking but i did use a mixture of paint an stain for my shingles. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fov Posted September 21, 2012 Share Posted September 21, 2012 My reason for staining first is more because of the glue than because I'm worried about getting stain on the house... 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sparklepuppies Posted September 21, 2012 Share Posted September 21, 2012 Also, the one time I tried painting after applying, I had a heck of a time getting the watered downpaint into all the little nooks and crannies... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KathieB Posted September 21, 2012 Share Posted September 21, 2012 Also, the one time I tried painting after applying, I had a heck of a time getting the watered downpaint into all the little nooks and crannies... That's why you want to paint or stain the roof with the color you'll use on the shingles before you glue them in place. Those pesky peek-a-boo places that don't show up until later! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sparklepuppies Posted September 21, 2012 Share Posted September 21, 2012 That's why you want to paint or stain the roof with the color you'll use on the shingles before you glue them in place. Those pesky peek-a-boo places that don't show up until later! Yep, did that, but my biggest issue was the edges and those little spots on the bottom shingle where the top shingle overlaps it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
havanaholly Posted September 21, 2012 Share Posted September 21, 2012 I've done it both before and after applying and before is better for reasons stated. I really love the Greenleaf shingles that come on a sheeet, because I can wipe the stain on and rub it in with an old soft rag. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jrzeegrl Posted September 21, 2012 Author Share Posted September 21, 2012 Gosh, thank you so much everyone for all of your experience and insight.. I have a little time to think about which way to go but right now I am leaning toward the stain beforehand method .. Thank you again and if I ever get far enough along, I will post pics of the result. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
havanaholly Posted September 21, 2012 Share Posted September 21, 2012 A slightly more civilized staining method for individual shingles might be to tale twp dos[psab;e a;uminum roasting pans and use a nail to poke holes into the bottom of one of the. Set the one withholes into the one without and four in your stain, dump in your shingles and stir them around and then lift the pan with holes straight up and let the stain drain into the intact pan and dump your stained shingles out and spread them onto newspapers to dry; repeat until all your shingles are stained. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rbytsdy Posted September 21, 2012 Share Posted September 21, 2012 I've tried variations on both methods; with my first house the Lily, I laid all the shingles out on newspaper and proceeded to stain them with Minwax waterbased. I had a great time separating them from the newspaper! (Not...) Then I tried oilbased Minwax, and that went alot better; I also tried pouring some stain into a ziplock bag full of shingles and shaking vigorously which worked well. Then for the Arthur, I glued all the shingles on first, sanded them down to remove glue bits, and stained the whole thing (carefully) with my leftover waterbased Minwax; this turned out rather well, and I've been doing this ever since with my oilbased stain (which I love). I've found that a combination of sponge brush (for the broad parts) and small artist's brush (for the finer bits) works well for application of the stain. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
queenannediva Posted September 21, 2012 Share Posted September 21, 2012 Step by step instructions if you choose to do it before: http://gr123.powweb.com/DollhouseWorkshop/plogger/index.php?level=album&id=16 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KoalaSam Posted September 22, 2012 Share Posted September 22, 2012 I have tried both methods and I found the first one (the proper way of doing it) too long. I think I am kind of lazy, but the last few houses I have done, I have glued the shingles first and stained or painted them afterwards. (I like the odd and weird effects you can get doing it that way) If you want your roof perfect, might be better to stain first. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Starfire Posted September 22, 2012 Share Posted September 22, 2012 I used the double aluminum pan method for my first house, my Montclair but I did not think to paint the base before gluing the shingles on. My next shingling will also be handled that way but with the added painting of the base.I have tried painting them after putting them down first and found that glue and those pesky unpainted bits underneath were a most distressing problem! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fov Posted September 22, 2012 Share Posted September 22, 2012 I tried the roasting pan thing and it didn't really work for me. Not sure if I did it wrong or what. The thing I don't like about strip shingles is that when there are variations in the wood you can end up with a striped look, rather than having variation from one shingle to the next. I worked around this on the Rosedale by randomly staining some of the shingles in the strip with more coats than the others, so there would still be some variation from shingle to shingle. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
havanaholly Posted September 22, 2012 Share Posted September 22, 2012 With the sheets of shingles I tend to break them apart here & there, to get variety. Putting paint washes over the dried stain gives nice effects, too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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