Trials of Unicorn Spit

Over the last few years I have used a variety of paints and stains to achieve a desired color or design for our projects. Some stains and paints are easier to use than others, but all have strong fumes and limited blending abilities. Due to the strong fumes it has been necessary stain or paint the wood outside. In the spring and fall staining/painting outside is easy. During the dead of winter or summer it becomes more challenging. When working in the summer the paint/stain dries too fast and sometimes bubbles up. On the other hand, painting/staining in the winter requires 10 times as long to dry and moving projects indoors can cause cracking or warping if they warm too quickly. There is definitely an art to painting/staining all year round.

This winter we have created a space in our basement to work in projects where we control the temperature. The space still needs some work and since it’s in the basement it isn’t ventilated enough for using products that have strong fumes. We still do all of the cutting, large scale sanding, and staining/painting in outside. Even with the big work being done outside it’s nice to have a space inside where I can work on finishing work or anything that isn‘t full of fumes or excessively dusty.

Recently we became aware of a water based, non-toxic gel stain and glaze called Unicorn Spit. I know what you’re thinking, “This has got to be a joke”! I assure you, it is a real product and that’s the real name. In case your next thought is “Great, she’s either being paid to talk about this stuff or she is selling it,” don’t worry neither of those are true. We simply ordered some recently and today I get to play with it. I’m most excited about the fact that it smells like jasmine, has no harsh chemical fumes, it blends easily, and it comes in a wide variety of bright colors. Due to the lack of fumes I get to work inside out of the rain in a temperature controlled environment today.

I am starting with scraps of plywood and an old wine box for my experiments today. These are not meant to be beautiful pieces of art, but simply my learning space.

After reading the directions and watching several how to videos I dove in head first.

Since the Unicorn Spit is water based I started by spraying my board with water to open the pores. The next step was to put streaks of the stain on the boards. I varied patterns and played with different color combinations. I was amazed at the vibrance of colors and how easily they blended. A little bit went a long way. In fact I found that I was using way more than I actually needed for the desired effect. The series of pictures below show some of the beginning stages...

I also glued a piece of paper to wood and used washes of color over the paper so see the effect. In the picture below you can see how the colors blended and stained. The one thing I realized was, since this was a test, I wasn‘t careful to keep the glue off the front of the paper. Where the glue had sealed the board or the paper the wash of color did not soak in. I could paint the stain over the top, but that didn’t give it a washed out look. In the future, I will be careful to only seal the part I want sealed before staining.

After playing with different designs, washes, and even painting a simple picture, I let everything dry. Below you will find some pictures of the completely dry test projects...

Initially I was disappointed with the chalky look and loss of vibrant color once it dried. When I would spray it with water the vibrance came back temporarily and the colors blended a little more interestingly. Since I knew that a clear coat was the last step I set my disappointment aside and started clear coating half of all my example projects. Below you will find pictures showing the clear coats.

As you can see in the pictures above the clear coat changes everything. Suddenly the vibrance came back and the chalky appearance was gone.

Now for my takeaways from this experience. I definitely feel like I need more practice using this product, but with more knowledge and experience I believe it has a lot of potential. The initial chalky appearance when first dried is off putting, but once a non water based clear coat was applied I liked the end result.

Unicorn Spit was easy to use and definitely stained very well without the harsh chemical smells. I even took off my rubber gloves about half way through the session and used my bare hands to see the effects. As I have previously said in other blogs, I tend to be a pig pen when I get artistic and I always get my hands dirty even when I wear gloves. The idea that I didn’t have to wear them was very enticing so I threw caution to the wind and began working without gloves. My hands were very messy and stained when I was done, so I was interested in how well it washed off. The 2 pictures below show the before and after of 1 washing.

After 1 washing most of the stain was gone, but a little bit of the blue and pink remained. This is way better than what is left after previous stains I have used. The best part, was after another washing a couple hours later the stain was completely gone. Normal stains take at least a week to wear off my hands and I spend the next week explaining to my students just why my hands are black.

I didn’t really find any large problems with Unicorn Spit although I won’t use it on every project. It is great when I want vibrant colors or if I want to blend colors to create a specific effect. If I want wood with a more natural color however, I will still use my other stains. Adding a top coat doesn’t bother me because I do that even with other oil based stains. It was also very nice to work indoors out of the rain without any harsh chemical fumes. Overall I enjoy using Unicorn Spit and I will add it to our variety of materials and designs. Going forward, I am excited about the possibilities that it offers as I learn more and better techniques.

For those thinking about using this stain I hope my experience helps you. If it’s the first time you have heard of it, may this inspire you. Check out their gallery at https://unicornspit.com/gallery.

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