I have a problem with primer. I stir it and brush it on, but it doesn’t cover well, so I still get bleed-through after two coats. What am I doing wrong?
Michael Dresdner: It could be one of two things, and both suggest that you may be using the wrong primer for the job. As a rule, primers will block bleed-through of only those dyes, whether natural or synthetic, that respond to a different solvent than the one in the primer. In other words, watersoluble colorants will bleed through waterbased primers, but not through oil-based or shellac-based ones, and vice versa. To choose a primer wisely, you must know the nature of what you are trying to block. The other possible problem is that you may be using a cheap, inferior primer that does not contain enough pigment to afford adequate hiding of what is below it.
