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Faux Painting & Decorative Finishing Techniques 7



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    Emily Smith specializes in faux painting, fine art, decorative finishing, trompe l'oeil and murals. She describes her faux painting techniques and decorative finishing techniques. She also displays her faux painting techniques and decorative finishing techniques through the examples below.

faux tortoiseshell - this faux painting technique imitates the shells of sea turtles and is used for furniture inlays and as decorative embellishment on small objects. It is an ornamental finish and is meant for flat surfaces. Supplies needed include: artist's oils (burnt sienna, raw sienna, and burnt umber), mineral spirits, scumble glaze, and high gloss polyurethane varnish to finish. Base coat with a deep golden yellow ochre color, cadmium red, or white oil-based paint mixed with raw sienna universal tint. Mix the raw sienna artist's oils with equal amounts of mineral spirits and oil scumble glaze. Mix burnt sienna and the burnt umber colors individually with a small amount of mineral spirits to make a thick, creamy consistency. Brush the raw sienna mixture over the dry base coat and while the glaze is still wet, add the burnt sienna in short diagonal stripes (top corner to bottom corner). Use the burnt umber to paint the "eyes" on the burnt sienna, use a hake brush to soften and lengthen the strokes. When dry, varnish, sand, and apply a second coat. The faux finish should look luminous and transparent.

faux wood graining - also known as faux bois (French) is a faux painting technique used to simulate the appearance of wood. Wood graining gave us special tools and brushes as well as decorative painting techniques like combing, flogging, and strie'.This faux painting technique can be done with oil or water-based paints. For oil wood graining, start with an eggshell base paint of the correct color for your chosen wood, then lay a transparent oil glaze over it, then over graining. Watercolor wood graining is very difficult. Similar to oil wood graining, watercolor wood graining needs a base coat of eggshell. A mixture of equal parts water and vinegar is brushed over the base, the colored pigment is brushed into the wet base, a mottler is used to form the patterns of the grain, brush marks are stippled to remove harsh marks and softened with a badger brush. This surface should be allowed to dry before over graining.

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