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

The Garay Artisans Mailbag: Three-Dimensional Grapes

One of our prior posts inspired this letter:

Jeannine from North Carolina writes: “Hey There! I LOVE those grapes and your story is so inspirational! I love doing the faux finishing, but have merely dabbled in it for myself and a few clients and friends. I’m in the middle of a layoff so wondering if it isn’t yet another sign to go for it??!! : ) I would love to know how you did the 3D grapes on the wine cellar. I want to do something like that in my kitchen, and also saw a finish where the grape clusters were indented into the plaster finish. Any idea how they could have done that?”

From Regina: First and foremost, I’m sorry about the layoff. I have some friends who have been affected as well. It’s an old cliche but when a door closes, a window opens — I firmly believe that. In terms of a direction, I think it is a difficult time for any industry but if you do go into a career you are passionate about it will make going through the rough times a lot easier to handle. Thank you so much for your compliments and I’m really glad you enjoyed that post. Those 3D grapes were an awesome technique I learned from Spectacular Walls by Jeannine Dostal. She also features two other ways to create the three-dimensional grapes — it really is a great book with many cool techniques. As for the “indented” grape clusters, I’m thinking that you mean that the design was embedded into the plaster as opposed to an embossed (or protruding) image. There are a couple of ways to do this: either directly carving the grapes and vines into the wet or drying plaster using a technique similar to this with a myriad of carving tools…

or by pressing a pre-designed image (using say, a foam block or a rubber stamp with a grape cluster, vine or leaf image) into the plaster while setting. The pics below showcase a bit of the second technique and are from another great book with full instructions: Easy Fresco by Lina Ferrara.