Silver Faux Finished Cabinetry

 In the Fast and Furious One Day Foil class, I teach 8 finishes and two of the samples use silver foils.  I love them so much I completed one project on an accent piece for our home and the other finish I plan to use on the old oak built in bar.  (Typical artist-When I saw our fireplace in Gary Lord's new book, I said "Looks great but I should've done the bar")

I call this finish Toasted Champagne, not to be confused with toasted on champagne.  The curio cabinet was finished in red and white latex.

The sides were a crackle finish.  After a light sand and cleaning, I filled the crackle with Texturefil tinted with Royal Taupe Setcoat.  After sanding, I sprayed  the whole piece with Royal Taupe Setcoat and let it dry overnight. 

The next morning, I rolled an even coat of Wunda across the cabinet top and sides.  I let the Wunda tack up about 30 minutes and then rolled a second coat.  The second coat insures a better foil off-load and minimizes bubbling.  Roll the size with a dry black foam roller.  Other rollers leave more stippling and lines and using a wet roller increases bubbles.  You may always flatten the size with a foam brush.  When the size sets up (30 minutes - 2 hours) it will become tacky like the back of scotch tape. If the Wunda is sticky or wet then it is too soon to foil. Don't spray the Wunda.  Wunda doesn't dry until you put something over it and you don't want to atomize in the air.

While the size sets, cut long pieces of foil off the roll.  I cut these pieces into squares-I don't measure but keep them all about the same size.  When the size is ready, I crumple the foil square in my hand.  I gently unfold and press, with the Bright Silver side facing up, the square into the size.  Use a Robert Rubber Scrub Brush to rub the silver onto the surface.  I do want the sharp edges to show.

Intentionally lap some edges and leave other edges more uneven-this gives the appearance of real silver leaf.  I repeated this process on the top and along the front pieces of the curio.

 I brushed Dark Brown Faux Creme Color mixed with glaze over the foil and softened with a damp cloth. When the glaze was dry, I applied more Wunda size to the decorative elements of the curio and to the shelves.

The Spotted Champagne Foil was applied to these areas. 

 To blend the different foils, I glazed the whole piece with a mix of Antique Mahogany and Rich Brown stains thinned with FX Thinner.  I painted the inside with Black Setcoat for more contrast and sealed it all with C-500 Gloss Topcoat.

For the bar piece I am using my Moonlight Bark Sample.