Fauxology: Studying the Visual Magic of Faux Finishing and Interior Design (brought to you by Garay Artisans)

Regina Ga Ghoul-ray here wishing you a frightful, scary Halloween!  Actually, Halloween is a fun time around our parts and we derive great fun in either dressing up to go out or to greet the kids coming around for candy.  This year, our crew was cracking each other up because we came up with the brazilliant plan to go dressed as….drumroll…wait for it…faux finishes!!!  (”And what are you supposed to be?” “Venetian Plaster” ”And you?” “Gold Leaf Ceiling”) Hope the products wash off…. 

I’ve been thinking a lot about latex paint lately.  (You know, I think that first sentence really shows what a paint nerd I am.  Wish I could say “I’ve been thinking about my upcoming world tour lately”…but nooooooo.  Latex paint for this chick.)  Here’s the deets.

1) Normally, we use acrylic colors or universal tints to color our glazes — but rarely regular paint.  I find that it gives a “muddier” look and when a bit off, I used to have to buy a whole other quart and hope that the new color was a winner.  (That was before I learned how to tint.  Color Theory classes are invaluable and I highly recommend them to anyone who hasn’t taken one.  It saves money and there is a certain joy at being able to create custom colors at will.)  Saying that, I have found and used a color regularly throughout the years and it’s a winner.  The name is Steady Brown and it is Sherwin-Williams 6110 — we used it again recently and it really nice.  A close Benjamin Moore color is Valley Forge Brown (HC-74) but I haven’t tested that one out yet.  Here’s an older sample board using the Steady Brown as a light overglaze (at a 1:5 ratio).

2) I love Benjamin Moore colors but since I have a Sherwin-Williams super close, I usually use their colors as base paints.  They have this cool thing called Color To Go and it’s a satin quart used to allow everyone to test their color choices.  The best thing?  $4.99/quart.  It’s not meant to be used to base a wall professionally but for color testing and sample-making?  Fantastic — especially when a regular quart can set you back $10 - $12!  You can see my growing collection…

3) I purchased a book recently and with it came a coupon for a free year of Better Homes & Gardens.  Not my first choice for a shelter magazine, but free is free.  My first issue was in September and I found myself enjoying it.  After the second issue, I think I’ve narrowed down my fave bit to the All About Color monthly column, dedicated to recommending gorgeous paint shades.  I rather like their layouts (…and hmmm…that gray looks familiar).

There you have it — my latest thoughts on latex paint.  I hope you can handle this much excitement, LOL!

As promised, here are more pics of Melanie Royals’ studio and shots of some of the samples produced. Can’t wait to go back!

The one on the left is my FAVE room (see the geisha on the door?) and the one on the right has such nice tones.

                        A work in progress…love the finished border on the left panel.

What a great idea for stairs: a pretty design to see when you go up and soothing alternating colors on the way down.  When you get to the bottom, you are greeted by the gorgeous flooring on the right. 

Additional mirror images…the last one I made when I got home.  Sorry about our studio’s ceiling beams you can see reflected on some of the samples…

I hope you’ve enjoyed the pics and the info.  Check Melanie’s website for more info on this workshop and others.  Have a great day!

A while ago, I referred a good friend, Debbie Parsons, to a designer that needed a furniture refinisher when we no longer offered those services.  Debbie recently contacted me since the designer wanted a repeat of a chinoiserie design done a long time ago and…would I still have the records?  When I (amazingly) found the stencils, it made me a bit sad.  This was from a time when I worked alone and I remember how much time they took me: from dreaming up the design, drawing it, resizing it at Kinko’s and then painstakingly cutting it out of mylar and cleaning it up with an exacto knife.  Technology has given us faster alternatives, but seeing those precious stencils (now packaged for Debbie) made me think that we’ve lost just a bit of that historic magic that brought our beloved industry about.

That’s why I’m going to zig instead of zag in our book choice.  This month we are recommending Printing by Hand by Lena Corwin.  I found this book on Amazon while looking for screenprinting techniques (yum) and took a chance on it.  It teaches how to create handprinted fabrics, papers and artworks.  It’s one of the few handprinting books you will find on the market — and since recently released, the most contemporary one.  She includes the patterns and the spiral inset makes it easy to bend the book when you are following the recipes.  While I have yet to try them, they are laid out in a clean, elegant, easy to understand manner.  I am looking forward to playing around with them!

Here are some pics:

In her introduction, Ms. Corwin writes: “While working as a textile designer at Jill Stuart…I would design patterns for fabrics that would then be sent to Asia to be produced.  And when those fabrics came back — thousands of yards at a time — they were nearly flawless.  And while they were beautiful, I couldn’t help but feel that something was lost in those perfectly printed textiles.  They were missing the imperfections that I am so drawn to in vintage fabric, wallpaper and stationery, those produced when printing techniques were wonkier…I have always found these imperfections charming and enjoyed how clearly they herald the touch of the human hand.”  These words resonate for me in the describing of the beauty of decorative painting: the sheer bliss of having someone come in and — by hand — create works of art specifically for them, their walls, their lifestyle.  I hope you enjoy the recommendation…and anything you choose to create by hand today.

When I attended the blog convention, there was much talk on social networking but most of it concentrated around Twitter.  It was considered one of the best ways for a business to network, meet other colleagues and acquire information quickly.  It was also considered the best way to gauge response to new products, new books/shows/music, new sites and for a larger company to interract immediately with their customers.  One speaker even went so far as to state that Twitter would one day become as important as the phone.  (That startled me.  While I looked around incredulously, I noticed that most attendees didn’t seem fazed by that comment and some even nodded.  Wha…?)  While I’m not sure of that just yet, I thought it would behoove me to find out the downlow on the tweets.

Twitter is a free online social network service that lets you keep in touch with your friends and colleagues via web or text – all revolving around one simple question: “What Are You Doing?”  Any update sent on Twitter is called a tweet and those in your network (whose adventures you “follow” and they in turn “follow” your exploits) can receive them via text or when you log in to your computer.  If you have your profile set to ”public timeline”, the entire Twitter community is privvy to your tweet and can easily tweet back.  Simple, right?

REGINA’S TIMEOUT:  You can not imagine the amount of pages of FAQ, Help and Googled sites I had to (re)read to churn out the above paragraph.  I need to be, like, a teenager, to get all this or at the very least, use that handy device used in The Matrix that just downloaded all the information you needed instantly into your conscious.  OK, back to our regularly scheduled program. 

So, I’m on Twitter now and anyone can Follow Me!  It seems cooler and a lot more laid-back than the other social sites, but I’ll keep you posted as I go down the rabbit hole.  To read more, check out 17 Ways You Can Use Twitter.  I’ve connected with some old friends (warm shoutout to Valerie Cuzzola!) and am looking forward to tweeting away.  Hope you decide to check it out and fly along with me!

The Wall-Nuts is a group of four women (including myself), with various degrees of expertise in the decorative painting field. We get together periodically to test out different books, videos and/or products. You, dear Reader, get to reap the benefits. Although we will not provide the recipes, we will post our results and also talk about them via podcast. (I’m actually quite proud that with the help of my husband, I was able to wrangle Sound Forge, the software used to edit the podcast.)

To read the bios of each member, please click here. For our initial get-together, we all took on a book by Gary Lord entitled “It’s Faux Easy”. He is one of the most prolific faux finishers and has received numerous accolades. It’s Faux Easy has about 30 projects and the corresponding recipes. But…do they work? Are they easy to follow? Here’s our take:

 

 Wall-nuts Podcast: It's Faux Easy (Gary Lord) [15:23m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

We each wrote our own recap since filming the podcast so that if you cannot access it, you can easily read the results. 

Monica Zeuli: University-Trained Muralist
Hoping to Inspire: All fine artists who have an interest in faux finishing
Recipe: Colette’s Classic (Project Eleven)

Book Sample (Left), Monica with her sample (Right)

Monica: Overall, the recipe was easier than it looks.  I went by the book with every step and the only thing I can comment on is to make sure your squeegee notches are on the small side so it doesn’t come out too linear.  If you want “fat” lines then go wide with the notch.  I used a pre-made squeegee that was wide and I decided to go over the lines a couple of times which made the SofTex leave little knobs which were easy to remove.  It really looks like natural bamboo. As a professional artist, I would recommend to my clients painting directly on the wall of a bath or kitchen with a light tan or gold basecoat to get the same effect and bypass the paper. I think that would give me the best durability for my clients. Taping off baseboards and ceilings would be essential. I do love the finish product and I can wait to sell it! 

PROS
Super easy, great for either a novice or experienced faux artist.
I liked that you put it on craft paper and apply to the wall.  You can have plenty of practice before applying finish product.

CONS
You have to wait at least an hour before applying glaze.
You have to use a lot of the relatively expensive SoftTex.
My squeegee didn’ have the right size knotches like the book had.  I had to go over the area a few times to get smaller lines.
I wish I could ask Mr. Lord if his example (using the finished craft paper in a bathroom), would hold up in condensation and would the background show water stain? Would it tear after getting wet? Would a clear coat help?

Debbie Jackson: New Professional Faux Finisher
Hoping to Inspire: Those who are just starting their faux career or looking to start one
Recipe Chosen: Rawhide (Project Twelve)

Book Sample (Left), Debbie with her sample (Right)

Debbie: All things considered, this finish was easy to accomplish and the directions were very easy to follow.  It definitely gets a thumbs-up from me.

PROS
Easy directions, anyone could execute this finish and it’s fun to do.

CONS
Paper is a little fragile when wet so you must exercise caution.

Sharon Adelman: The Faux Enthusiast
Hoping to Inspire: All the DIYers out there
Recipe Chosen: Linen Strie (Project Five)

Book Sample (Left), Sharon with her sample (Right) 

Sharon: It was quite straighforward once I started painting and getting the hang of it.  Initially, I was very nervous wondering if I was making mistakes.  Quite fun after a while and this really makes you focus.  I actually meditated when I painted. The final result of the Linen Strie was quite nice.  I loved it.  Very simple, very classy.  I like the muted look with the nice contrast on both the horizontal and vertical lines.  I guess once I have a more steady hand, I will do this on my walls.  I am very happy with this experiment.  I am looking forward to more intricate projects.   

PROS
The book consists of helpful steps.  Very good Pro Tips are found on the start of every recipe. These was very helpful for me since I needed more guidance and Gary Lord laid that out for me.
 

CONS
The color palette (pg 39) and printed color on Step One (pg 40) was a lot darker and that totally confused me. But in the end, I just played with the colors and went with my gut on which color to use. I will now be braver trying out other colors.

Regina Garay: Ye (Relatively) Olde-Timer
Hoping to Inspire: Like-minded professionals and anyone with an interest in decorative painting as a hobby or business
Recipe Chosen: Parchment (Project Six)

Book Sample (Left), Best pic of Regina’s sample (Right)

Regina:  I must admit, halfway through the finish I was worried.  It didn’t seem right and my results didn’t look like the book’s pictures.  However, when the final glaze layer went on, it brought it all together and I liked the finish so much it went right into the portfolio.  I’m all for layering and this one is fairly easy to do with great predictable results.  (Plus, that final overall glaze recipe?  Gorgeous color.) 

PROS
Gorgeous layered finish
Colors provided give a nice tone that would work in many home’s designs
Final glaze coloration now one of my faves
The kind of recipe that is versatile enough to handle endless color variations

CONS
Doesn’t really come together until the final layer
Getting an even look with the paint-only softening layer will take a bit of practice for a DIYer

***

There you have it, folks.  All four of us were unanimous in recommending this book, which is available at your favorite online or local bookstore.  I hope you’ve enjoyed the first Wall-nuts installment. We are looking to get together again sometime early next year for our next “test”. (…and if you have any reviews to suggest, by all means please let us know in the comments section.)

No, that isn’t a reference to our president or the current state of the economy but more of a reference to my head.  The crew and I have been working the overnight shift (10 pm - 5 am) at the beautiful Hilton at Walt Disney World Resort – something we offer in our company’s services and a shift we’ve worked many times before (see the lone post on a past one here).  This time, however, it sent me for a loop.  I think my mistake was coming home on the red-eye from California, getting home at 11 am, going to sleep and waking up to start the 10 pm shift that same day.  The first few days were ok but I woke up at one point and I couldn’t remember what day it was.  Now, though, we’re recovering and the hotel executives are pleased with our work so all’s well that ends well.  I can recharge, blog a bit and go back to more artworks on Monday. 

While I get my thoughts together, I was pleased that this week we got shout-outs from not one blog, but two.  We were mentioned in the Stencil Talk blog for Stencil Search and also in a post entitled “What is Faux Painting?” on My Design Secrets.  Big Thank You!s to both of them for such a pleasant surprise.

I’ll be posting soon…but for now, someone’s cooking breakfast and I have to follow the scent like one of those cartoon characters…

My very favorite studio in my home state of Florida is the Sarasota School of Faux & Architectural Finishing.  The school is run by Donna Phelps and she is a fellow Global Moderator on Talk Faux.  I can’t say enough good things about Donna — she’s funny, a fantastic teacher and a super genius at producing the most awesome sample boards.  Every year brings new and exciting techniques — sooooo glad to have her only 2 hours away. 

Which brings me to the Fall Faux Fling.  Donna is having an Open House at her studio this Saturday (October 11th) from Noon - 5:30 pm.   (For address, phone or RSVP info, click here.)  She is previewing new classes, new products and new stencils.  She’s also having hourly drawings (last time I won some cool products…love that!) and having an inventory sale to make room for all the new materials (see…this is where I get in trouble…).  Here’s a peek at some of her new finishes:

Can you say Yummy & Delicious?!?  These boards plus many more will be on display and there will be some cool presentations as well.  I heard that she also has William Cochran coming in to teach a class…

I’ve been going to Donna’s studio since 2000.  I still faithfully try to go at least once per year because I can always count on her to add to my bag of tricks.  She’s also a popular teacher at the IDAL conventions and at other faux schools nationwide.  I hope you get a chance to check out her studio! 

10/18 UPDATE:  Another of my faves, Dundean Studios, is having their second Open House of the year next Saturday, October 25th from 9 am - 5:30 pm.  Their studio (where I’ve taken many courses, most recently Advanced Woodgraining) is located in Chatham, NJ.  Dean is a Salon member and a true master in our field — if you get a chance, don’t miss going to his studio. 

Walking into Melanie Royals’ studio is like walking into the faux version of Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory.  There is so much eye candy in the two-story space — floors, walls, ceilings, panels, artwork, staircases, furniture, doors…it all flows together and as she gave our group a personal tour, it was mindboggling to note the creativity that flows from her mind.  I am a frequent reader of the Design Amour blog and it was cool to see, in person, the pictures I have drooled over in the past year.  The studio is still a work-in-progress and it was great to hear her plans for filling up the remaining spaces.  I’m so glad she’s in our industry!

Here’s some pics of the studio.  (More to come in Part Two.)

Elegant Reflections is a two-day class that focuses on using mirrors and glass as substrates.  It covers etching, patination, various forms of gilding and reverse painting.  The two days were jam packed – there was a lot of ground to cover.  On the first day, we learned about proper preparation and she advised us that the techniques would be a new way of thinking for us: working in the reverse.  In fact, she let us know when she first started working with glass & mirrors that she basically threw out all her initial samples.  Through her guidance, we started to see what the products do and how they react. 

Here’s peeks into the various processes and samples both around the studio and created for the class.  Pictured is my classmate, Kersteen Anders, who coincidentally was also with me in the Safra course given in Italy for advanced Venetian Plaster techniques. 

I can totally understand the controlled process and how different techniques I use will affect the end result.  I love this new direction!  Once I receive my samples, I’ll post up Part Two with more pics of the studio and some of the created works so you can see the end results.  For years I’ve planned to take a workshop by Melanie Royals — I’m so glad I took this particular one and invested into my business.  It’s wonderful to learn many new things (flash gilding, anyone?) AND have found new substrates to add to my services.  Please note that if you are interested, the next Elegant Reflections class is February 9 - 10, 2009.  I can’t wait to receive my samples and other yummy stuff!