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Faux Finishes Article
9. Faux Finishes
from:Faux finishes have gained enormous popularity in the world of home decor in the last few years. You can achieve a myriad of effects with the help of faux finishes. Also most of them, particularly ones that are used on walls are fairly simple to create. Many paint dealers have free instructional courses on creating faux finishes. Before you choose a faux finish for your walls its important to take a look at the catalogue and choose one that best suits the décor of your home. Apart from your walls, you can use faux finishes to spruce up a regular fireplace, to give an antique finish to your coffee table, to create a stone look for the door frame or to paint a faux fresco on one of the walls. The possibilities are simply endless but you may want to begin with faux wall finishes. You will generally use a latex based paint with a thinner to create the different effects you may also use two different colors usually two contrasting or complimentary colors or if you want to be really experimental you can opt for metallic colors. The most popular techniques include dragging, stone wall finish, faux bricks. The simplest techniques involve the use of rollers with particular designs. You will have to paint the base the way you would normally paint a wall and then use the roller to create the faux effect by using a darker or lighter shade on top of the base coat. Another way involves the use of artificial or natural sea sponge. Once again you will paint the base coat and then splash a complimentary color randomly over the base color and smudge it with the help of the sponge.
Another technique is called rag washing and as the name suggests it involves using a rag cloth dipped in paint in swirling motions over the base coat. For the Feathering technique you can use two colors that are fairly close to each other after the base coat is dry use a feather duster to apply a layer of the second color. The best part about faux wall finishes is that you can very rarely go wrong with them. There is seldom a right or wrong way to do it and each individual stroke will create a different and unique effect.
The technique can also be used successfully on furniture to give it an antique look or on paintings to give them a worn out old world charm. It’s strongly recommended that you don’t try to create a finish on an expensive painting or print. Instead start by painting one yourself with the help of a stencil, the picture should be painted normally with artist grade oil colors. After the paint is dry use a substance called crackle varnish which will make the upper layer of the oil paint crack randomly giving it a renaissance look.