Mini-to-Maxi Marble
Finishes & Surfaces, Inside In-faux, Sibling Artistry January 15th, 2008I thought it would be fun to walk you through one of our most unique commissions. One day last year we received a call from The Evans Group about some areas that they wanted marbled. We had just met the designers at the HD Boutique show in Miami Beach and they were looking for a faux finishing firm who could tackle this commission for a new Re/Max location here in Orlando.
My brother, Jason, and I met them at the new site. My brother and I each have different expertises in faux finishing and one of his is marbling. He simply amazes me — I could never come close to his talent in this field. So, he definitely took the lead on this one. The designers brought a 4 inch square piece of marble — an unusual one that had a flat sheen. They explained that this was to be part of the flooring and we were to reproduce this marble on two large exterior arches. Jason was to use the tile they brought as the guide for making the samples for approval and, ultimately, the large exterior arches.
(Below Left) Some of the sample variations he created…you can see the 4 inch piece of marble used as a guide on the easel’s lower right. It would eventually be magnified onto two separate arches, each approximately 13 foot x 15 foot. We reached both areas via a cherry picker. (Below Right) For your reference, a shot of the final marble flooring installed.
(Below Left) One of the arches, pre-painting & pre-skimming. (Below Right) The same arch after being fixed and base painted.
(Below) This is the first glaze layer.
(Below) After toning and “aging” the glaze a bit, the veins were started.
(Below) Continuing the veins — the blue tape indicates some areas which Jason thought could use a bit more oomph. He’s extremely detail-oriented.
(Below) Final shot of one of the arches.
(Below Left) The installed flooring again to reference against (Below Right) a close-up of one of the arches. A good match, no? Each arch took about a week to complete.
The artwork was given three topcoat layers in a flat sheen to mimic the marble completely. I hope you’ve enjoyed this mini-to-maxi marble tour!
January 22nd, 2008 at 4:49 pm
Each time that I view your website…your blogs, your extraordinary work, everything…I have to remind myself to close my mouth because I’m in a state of awe. The Mini-to-Maxi Marble is awesome, as is everything else produced by Garay Artisans Faux. Has it ever crossed your mind to conduct workshops in CA???
January 22nd, 2008 at 10:39 pm
Wow - Thank you…I’ve been receiving a lot of compliments lately and I feel like the girl who turns around and makes sure that the person in front of them isn’t talking/waving at someone behind them…sorta like “Me?”. I’ll have to pass along your wonderful kudos to my siblings…they work so hard and deserve so much credit as well. Thank you again! Wow! (…and no — haven’t thought about teaching in CA…though I’d love to go back there again one day!)