Category: Faux Finish

It’s been a while since I have posted a How To article but I have been busy.

I just completed a project for a new restaurant in the Little Italy area of San Diego called La Villa and I wanted to describe a cool finish I did on the front of the main bar.

The technique is simple enough to execute and as you can see is quite attractive.

Ok here are your step by step instructions for  this technique.

You will need the following materials from Modern Masters :  Iron Paint,   Rust Activator,  Permacoat Xtreme.

In San Diego these products can Be purchased from Dunn Edwards.

You will also need 2 or 3 different colors of Modern Masters  metallic plaster  or Lusterstone from Faux Effects.

For this project I selected  from Modern Masters the following colors of metallic plaster:  Ocean Blue,  Eggplant and  Sage.

The stencil can be purchased from Royal Design Studio, see their web site, they  have much to like and a bounty of inspiration.

Royal Design Studio  stencil # 3010L Large Curved Connection

RUSTED TRELLIS

Base coat surface with a dark brown or black satin paint.

Give the surface a coat of MM IRON PAINT, 100% coverage and allow to dry

Apply the MM ACTIVATOR over the entire surface, spray or sponge on.   Ideally, you want to have a variety of rusted movement and color.   That is to say have areas that are lighter and some darker, a lot of rust movement.  DO NOT SEAL at this time.

Create 3 separate batches of metallic plaster mixes.   The metallic plaster batches are  a mixture of  metallic plaster  and IRON PAINT at ratios of about  6 parts metallic plaster to 1 part of Iron Paint.  The Iron Paint is black and will darken your metallic plaster but essentially unifies  all three colors so that no one color is dominate.

I used the Ocean Blue color as my primary color and the other two colors as accents.

Stencil on the metallic plaster over the rusted surface in a somewhat distressed manner, ie do not try to be perfect with your application.  Click on the image to enlarge and get a better idea of what I mean.

A good hint to remember is to try and stencil more of the edges of the design nicely and leave the “center” areas more distressed.   In other words, define the edges of the design.

Allow the plasters to dry.   Using a sponge or small brush apply more RUST ACTIVATOR onto the surface trying to just reach the metallic plaster areas so that they too activate and rust just a bit.  This will help unify the effect even more.

ALTERNATIVELY:     Apply the metallic plasters directly over the IRON PAINT prior to using the activator. Then use the ACTIVATOR over the entire finish  The finish will look a bit different but will still be nice, and quicker for sure.   I hope you try it out.

A week or so ago I attended a demonstration of a new tool for creating decorative textured effects on ceilings.  The company doing the demo’s is called Sewards Extraordinary Ceiling Designs.   The owner of the business, Linda Seward and her crew showed the class several sample boards of finishes she created using an simple looking tool.

The tool as far as I can remember didn’t even have a name but it sure gave yielded some interesting results.  The tool which resembles a plate affixed to a handle would be dipped into a bucket of joint compound and then “walked” onto the ceiling.  This process of walking the the joint compound onto the ceiling creates a pattern the looks very much the veining of a leaf.

The veining  texture left by the tool, which has no name as far as I know,  has substantial relief to it and looks rather uninteresting when first applied.   What gave this texture a distinctive decorative look was what Linda did next.

After the veining texture set up a little, she shaved off the high points with a blade and allowed the joint compound to dry fully.  Once the joint compound had dried, Linda then began using a variety of  metallic  paints and other decorative media to give the texture color and shine.

I have to tell you, I was not expecting to see such nice results from such a simple looking tool.   It is my understanding that the tool can also be used on walls with just a slight variation on the joint compound consistency.

This tool could have some very definite uses as an  inexpensive solution to bland looking ceilings, popcorn ceilings etc.

Their website is not the best in the world but don’t  let that stop you from checking out this tool.  I will be incorporating this new patented tool and creating new decorative finishes of my own with it soon enough.  In the mean time,  here a few photos of Linda’s sample boards.   For more info and to ask question I provide a link to their web site.      www.SewardsECD.net

I wanted to show you a few samples I saw at the IDAL convention a couple weeks ago. These samples were made by Melanie Royals owner of Royal Design Studio and Modello Designs.

Melanie used a material called Skimstone and her Modello masking patterns to create these beautiful cement carpets.

Skimstone is an hybridized Portland Cement created in such a way that it allows for unique new decorative techniques and finishes. It was developed for both the DIY and Professional. Skimstone was originally created as a concrete overlay system but has been used in many different creative ways.

These carpets, while done on a fabric backing for display purposes, will work on most concrete surface.

While I am not a Skimstone aficionado, I have seen up close the beautiful end results that can be achieved using this material. This is especially true when you incorporate Melanie Royals Modello masking patterns. You can see many more beautiful samples Melanie has created at her website:

I think they are pretty cool looking designs and I plan to take the next Skimstone/Modello workshop she offers here in San Diego. Enjoy.

Last week I attended the International Decorative Artisans League (IDAL) convention in Portland and thought I might pass my thoughts to those interested.

It appears that Portland was not the best location possible as only 275 or so attendees showed up and far fewer vendors than I had expected. In any case it is always beneficial to keep up with the latest in the decorative painting and faux finish industry.

There was nothing earth shattering to be seen and most of the vendor displays were tailored back substantially from last year when the convention was held in Memphis. In spite of this, I still came across several new techniques that I would like to incorporate into my portfolio of faux finish techniques.

The only problem I had was that in order to learn new technique or two, I would have had shell out anywhere between 300 to 375 dollars for a one day class. In these times it is very difficult to justify paying that kind of money to learn a couple new techniques while having to put up with the “filler” stuff these classes invariably have included in them.

So that being said, I did the next best thing. I inspected the sample boards of the techniques I wanted to learn and began what I like to call FAUX FORENSICS. I do this by closely examining the sample from all angles and in different lighting. The back side of a sample always yields telltale signs of what kind of material was used and often in what order as well.

In addition, I perform a scratch test to determine the specific products used and I sniff the sample board for a familiar top coats odor.

The bottom line is that I have had pretty good success in the past deciphering new sample board techniques. So to that end, I will explain how I believe some of these cool looking sample boards were executed. In the mean time here a few photos of some of sample boards I saw at the convention.

Here is a nice and easy little decorative painting technique for adding some distinctive punch to a room. Some have said it simulates the look of needlepoint. The technique looks great and is in fact not difficult to execute,but as in most faux or decorative painting finishes there are some tips to ensure success.

Metallic Plaster Lace Technique ( for my sample)

I based coated the surface with a coat of Black Cherry metallic paint from Modern Masters and allow to dry.
Tip: Make sure you do not leave any holidays or very hard lap lines. Remember much of this metallic paint will be visible when this finish is complete.

Select lace that has a design you like.
Tip: Prior to using your lace, lay it flat on a work table and spray it with a spray starch product. Allow it to dry then spray the other side. You do this to take any “stretch” out of the lace.

This particular decorative finish looks best (and is infinitely easier to do) in panels rather than attempting to cover the entire wall surface. The boarders can then be framed out using decorative wood strips or molding other method.

Once your lace has dried from the starch it should feel somewhat stiff and be much easier to position on to your predetermined panel areas. Tape the top of the lace onto your wall but do not tape the sides.

I selected a metallic plaster from Modern Masters called eggplant. The metallic plaster is similar in color to the metallic paint used to base coat the wall. A tone on tone approach is always a safe bet with this decorative technique.

Once the lace is secured, I used a 6 inch flexible Bondo knife as my application tool. I troweled the metallic plaster onto and through the lace starting from top to bottom. Apply enough plaster to cover the lace but don’t get heavy handed. If your lace for example is about 1/32 in thickness, then you will want to apply the plaster at about 1/16 to 1/8 of thickness. Do not over work an area with plaster. One or two passes should be all it takes to cover an area.
Tip: Be careful to avoid wrinkling or crinkling of the lace. The starch should help avoid this but keep an eye out for possible problem areas.

Once you have covered the entire piece of lace, go back and gently scrape any areas of excess plaster, if any. You should be able to see the design pattern of the lace.

Allow the plaster to sit for a couple minutes before removing the lace. Working from top to bottom remove the lace by peeling it back gently.

The lace can be rinsed out, dried and reused.

This decorative painting technique is pretty straight forward and the tips I provided should make things go easier. What I like particularly about this faux finish is the contrast between the very shiny metallic base coat color and the not quite so shiny metallic plaster color.

Of course you will want to try the technique and try out different color ways prior to working on a wall.
Actually this technique works great on furniture although I haven’t done it myself.

Should you have any questions please ask and I’ll reply soon. Thanks