When you are dabbing on a glaze over a base colour you can use a rag, cheescloth, or a sponge. The most popular sponge is a natural sea sponge. This is because by rotating it after each dab you can avoid the cat tracks that are the bane of a faux finisher. Also let me ease your mind about glazes; when dabbing on you can use thinned latex paint with no other additives. I start dabbing by keeping my dabs about a foot apart. This will avoid clumping the dabs and allow you to fill in gradually. Also as your sponge runs out of paint the lighter dabs will be spread out. It's the same proccess with rags or other methods of application. Make sure your paint/glaze is thin enough and you will need to mask the trim and corners to prevent the dabbing from getting on surounding surfaces.
Here is Wikipedia's Faux Finishing link.
Or visit us http://www.mercuryminc.net/
Showing posts with label faux finish. Show all posts
Showing posts with label faux finish. Show all posts
Friday, February 5, 2010
Thursday, February 4, 2010
Faux Finishing glaze
Glaze is a transparent coating, used to create faux finishing effects.
The correct mix of glaze is the most important part of success. A sample board is a good start. This is used to try your colours and see the result before it gets to the wall. Paint the sample board with the same base colour you are using on your wall.
I'll assume you have bought the Benjamin Moore "Aqua Glaze", although other brands are available. It comes rather thick for most ragging or marbling, and should be thinned with water. Adding colour to the glaze should be done with care.
What kind of product do you use to colour the glaze?
You can use acrylic paint that artists use; it comes in tubes and is good for choosing colours and blending them.
The second way is to have your paint retail store add a little tint using the tinting machine. This requires a good relationship with someone who won't mess up your glaze.
Thirdly, you can purchase little tubes of colourant (not paint) at some paint retail outlets. These are the best because they will give you the most transparent look and are not going to speed the set-up time of your glaze.
There are also kits for faux finishing that have all the products in one package, although these are costly and I have not used them myself.
Visit our site for more information http://www.mercuryminc.net/
The correct mix of glaze is the most important part of success. A sample board is a good start. This is used to try your colours and see the result before it gets to the wall. Paint the sample board with the same base colour you are using on your wall.
I'll assume you have bought the Benjamin Moore "Aqua Glaze", although other brands are available. It comes rather thick for most ragging or marbling, and should be thinned with water. Adding colour to the glaze should be done with care.
What kind of product do you use to colour the glaze?
You can use acrylic paint that artists use; it comes in tubes and is good for choosing colours and blending them.
The second way is to have your paint retail store add a little tint using the tinting machine. This requires a good relationship with someone who won't mess up your glaze.
Thirdly, you can purchase little tubes of colourant (not paint) at some paint retail outlets. These are the best because they will give you the most transparent look and are not going to speed the set-up time of your glaze.
There are also kits for faux finishing that have all the products in one package, although these are costly and I have not used them myself.
Visit our site for more information http://www.mercuryminc.net/
Sunday, January 24, 2010
Faux finish fun
Faux Finish comes of course from french, meaning "false", it really is about making something appear to be something else. Take a wall that is half inch drywall and put a few coats of paint and glaze on it and you have marble, old plaster, copper, wood, or stone.
Once the methods are learnt they are fairly straight forward.
It's like the old fable about a king wanting to learn to paint. He goes to see a tutor and asks to be taught. The teacher says" OK, but first you must learn to dance, so he goes to see a dance teacher and the teacher says "OK, but first you must learn music. And so on.
Well good Faux finishing is a bit like that. You have to have a good knowledge of paint and glaze. Also an art background is very useful, and the basic painting skills enabling you to apply the various coatings evenly and quickly without drips and misses.
It's just another learnt skill, so why not start now?
visit us at http://www.mercuryminc.net/
Once the methods are learnt they are fairly straight forward.
It's like the old fable about a king wanting to learn to paint. He goes to see a tutor and asks to be taught. The teacher says" OK, but first you must learn to dance, so he goes to see a dance teacher and the teacher says "OK, but first you must learn music. And so on.
Well good Faux finishing is a bit like that. You have to have a good knowledge of paint and glaze. Also an art background is very useful, and the basic painting skills enabling you to apply the various coatings evenly and quickly without drips and misses.
It's just another learnt skill, so why not start now?
visit us at http://www.mercuryminc.net/
Saturday, January 16, 2010
Faux Finishes
My theory is that faux finishing falls out of favour everytime it comes into style because so many so called professionals are so bad at it. I have seen faux finishes that would make you groan in disbelief. Any time you combine colours together you need to know how they will work together.
Also dabbing on different colours one after the other is hardly faux finishing.
The subtle glow you can achieve with ragged off glazes are not easy and without a thorough knowledge of glazing, impossible. Latex based paint dries very quickly. Latex based glaze dries even quicker. So getting it off before it sets becomes a very big obsticle to that perfect finish. Also, tinting glazes is a very tricky thing and takes many years to master.
So faux finishing will come and go, but good faux finishing will always give you astounding looks and beautiful surfaces.
Visit us at http://www.mercuryminc.net/
Also dabbing on different colours one after the other is hardly faux finishing.
The subtle glow you can achieve with ragged off glazes are not easy and without a thorough knowledge of glazing, impossible. Latex based paint dries very quickly. Latex based glaze dries even quicker. So getting it off before it sets becomes a very big obsticle to that perfect finish. Also, tinting glazes is a very tricky thing and takes many years to master.
So faux finishing will come and go, but good faux finishing will always give you astounding looks and beautiful surfaces.
Visit us at http://www.mercuryminc.net/
Wednesday, December 16, 2009
Trade secret # 7. Glazes
OK, some of you were wondering, does this guy know anything about anything more than the basics? But people, the basics ARE the secret. OK, here is some info about glazes.
A glaze is a transparent coating applied over a surface. It can be an oil or combination of oils thinners, and color. Or, it can be an acrylic clear coating with some color in it.
The oil based glazes are an old traditional way of creating beautiful affects used by the old masters. Faux finishers use them to scumble or make thousands of great looks in their trade.
The film business uses glazes extensively for anything from marbling, to woodgraining.
Making glazes is for painters with advanced knowledge and experience, but they can be purchased in paint stores. But be aware that you will not have a good experience unless you have some knowledge about what to do with these transparent coatings. The most challenging part is how much tint to put in the glaze, too little and you don't get the effect, too much and you have to start again. Contact me for more info on this.
A glaze is a transparent coating applied over a surface. It can be an oil or combination of oils thinners, and color. Or, it can be an acrylic clear coating with some color in it.
The oil based glazes are an old traditional way of creating beautiful affects used by the old masters. Faux finishers use them to scumble or make thousands of great looks in their trade.
The film business uses glazes extensively for anything from marbling, to woodgraining.
Making glazes is for painters with advanced knowledge and experience, but they can be purchased in paint stores. But be aware that you will not have a good experience unless you have some knowledge about what to do with these transparent coatings. The most challenging part is how much tint to put in the glaze, too little and you don't get the effect, too much and you have to start again. Contact me for more info on this.
Friday, December 11, 2009
Oil paint to latex/a rock and a polluted place
Well I must say the new rules on paint are welcome, but I still have a rant, as a professional of course. 2010 stores will NOT be able to stock alkyd (oil) based paint. I hate the smell of oil paint but it's soooo.. nice to have time to work with it when painting murals or faux finishing. Even just slapping a coat on the wall it flows out nicely and guess what?, after you finish you usually dispose of the roller and wash out the brush in paint thinner and let that thinner stand in an old can and then reuse it for washing the next brush. Fast forward to the future, which is now.
Latex is water soluble and loaded with chemicals unheard of 20 years ago. Although we are assured the new latex is low in VOC's, ummm , now the paint is dry before you have a chance to scratch your nose, and , try faux finishes with this stuff, even with the extenders they sell separately. Then we are ready to clean up. Wash the brush and roller in the sink and watch all those chemicals go into the sea, ummm very smart.
Are we creating a bigger monster? I for one have decided to dispose of my rollers after the job instead of trying to wash them. I do put them in a 5 gallon bucket and see if I can reuse them but wash them? not.
Latex is water soluble and loaded with chemicals unheard of 20 years ago. Although we are assured the new latex is low in VOC's, ummm , now the paint is dry before you have a chance to scratch your nose, and , try faux finishes with this stuff, even with the extenders they sell separately. Then we are ready to clean up. Wash the brush and roller in the sink and watch all those chemicals go into the sea, ummm very smart.
Are we creating a bigger monster? I for one have decided to dispose of my rollers after the job instead of trying to wash them. I do put them in a 5 gallon bucket and see if I can reuse them but wash them? not.
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