# Painting over varnish??



## slickshift (Aug 25, 2005)

To paint over varnish, you'll need to prime first
The best primer for over varnish, is a pigmented shellac
I can suggest Zinsser's BIN, as I've used it successfully for years


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## pickle13207 (Dec 10, 2007)

Thank you, I've already drawn the picture over the box and was hoping acrylic paint would work however it doesn't look very good. I'm trying to avoid sanding it down and redrawing it again as the drawing looks really good. It there any paint that can be used over varnish?

Lynnette


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## sirwired (Jun 22, 2007)

As slick said, you cannot put paint directly on top of varnish. There is no way around this. Scuff-sand (no need to remove the varnish, just rough it up), damp-sponge off the sanding dust, prime with shellac-based primer, paint with the quality paint of your choice.

If the paint you already have is peeling, you will need to scrape and/or sand and/or strip it off first. Unfortunately, there is no way around that either.

SirWired


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## slickshift (Aug 25, 2005)

If it's truly varnish, I know of no way that acrylics will stick
(stick for sure...it's possible some _might_ stick, but that would be luck)


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