Posts Tagged ‘Glazes’
If you are a decorative artist in San Diego or are contemplating dipping your paint brush into the world of Faux Finishes, then consider yourself lucky. San Diego has a wealth of resources for the aspiring decorative artist. This article will be one in a series describing the kind of resources available both in terms of artistic education and raw materials available.
I’ll cover everything from Venetian Plaster to stencils to glazes and even some innovative uses of metallic foils and other decorative textures. Decorative painting, be necessity, has become something of generic term these days. The Faux Finish artist can now incorporate several new materials and techniques into his or her portfolio and San Diego as you will discover is just the place to learn these techniques.
I will also detail a few interesting ways of using textured materials that yield finishes that can be elegant and or rustic, using inexpensive materials from Home Depot. I’ll incorporate metallic paints with glazes and stencils with Venetian Plaster and foils with stains and on and on.
Along the way, I will give you a list a schools in and around the San Diego area that teach faux finish techniques and sell a variety of decorative painting and venetian plaster materials, I’ll also throw in my assessment of their “value”.
Stay tuned, there will be a lot to learn and benefit from in the coming weeks.
The Shaw penthouse in San Diego required a glitzy decorative treatment that would reflect the Italian Baroque style. Reflect is the right word when you consider I covered nearly every square inch of ceiling space with either gold leaf or silver leaf.
In all, I must have applied some 60,000 sheets of gold and silver leaf to the ceilings. And believe me, applying small individual 5 inch squares sheets of very delicate leafing is no cake walk. Not only must you be careful to not rip the very fragile sheets of leaf as you handle them, but you must also apply them in a tight overlapping grid to achieve that classic gold leaf appearance. The real challenge comes in applying the leaf above your head and working against gravity.
And, you only get one shot at correct placement of the leaf. Remember you have to apply the leaf to a sized surface. Sizing is essentially the glue that holds the leaf to a surface, so you have to be very precise with your placement. Once all the leafing was applied to the ceilings, I needed to wait a day for the sizing to dry fully.
The color of pure gold leaf and silver leaf is much too garish in my opinion to be left untreated. I wanted to tone down the glare while also providing an elegant aged appearance to the leafing. My solution was to give the leaf a top coat of a water based satin polyurethane to protect and isolate the leaf. After this top coat dried I applied glazes using a fine stipple brush. For the gold I used a water based glaze tinted with raw umber universal tint available at paint stores. For the silver I used a glaze tinted with burnt umber.
The end result was a muted metallic appearance that radiates a warmth yet still looks hi end. Using metallic leaf in place of metallic paint gives a distinct look of workmanship. Try the above techniques and discover the beauty of leafing.
By the way, I also leafed 8 toilets in silver leaf as well, transforming a standard toilet into a throne, for lack of a better word. Very cool looking. 
The Shaw penthouse property located in downtown San Diego could easily be described as exotic or surreal or extravagant and still the description could be considered inadequate. It surely is a one of kind property in San Diego. The penthouse located atop the north tower of the Renaissance condominium complex could rival the Hearst castle in luxury.
In 2004, I was living in Barcelona Spain where I was teaching workshops in faux finishes. At the request of a fellow decorative artist that I had met there, I agreed to be part of the team of artisans assembled to work on this project. My background was in decorative finishes and textures for hi end homes.
My first assignment was to give the window casements a gold and silver leafed treatment. The windows were standard issue and painted an industrial grey. Boring to say the least. Some 12,000 sheets of gold and silver leaf later the windows radiated a bright metallic glow. Left as they were, the finish on the windows was much to harsh and needed to be toned down. I created glazes using Burnt Umber colorant for the gold leaf and Raw Umber for the silver leaf. Once the leafing was applied and allowed to dry overnight, I sealed the leafing with a top coat of satin polyurethane. Once this dried the glazes were applied with foam brush and stippled using a large stipple brush. The photos show the now warm glow of a muted metallic effect. 
