Hello, I tried to Varnish the Grumpy Cat that was in Full Color Sandstone. I used a clear acrylic varnish. Here is the model before: and after: It lost a little bit of constrast (in particular the blacks are not really black anymore) but I like the "porcelain" effect it got. What do you think?
Looks wet, which might explain the grumpyness... perhaps a matte varnish would have preserved contrast better ?
I guess the grumpy cat needs no reasons to be grumpy anyways but I like your interpretation... The gloss varnish itself is a glue/varnish (Uhu Fix "N" Glaze). It is white. I think this can explain the loss of contrast. Perhaps with an actually clear varnish it would work better, but I did not want to use a varnish with too many chemical products (this one is solvent free)... I'd like to see other experiments with different varnishes.
Have you tried how it works over black cardboard or paper? Maybe it doesn't dry fully clear. With some varnishes it's an application problem that happens if you put a thick coat (better multiple thin ones), or go over a half dry zone, or don't mix the matting agent properly (not this case, it's gloss).