Summer Leaves

 

Let us contemplate the LEAF in design

 

 

What is the meaning of this?

 

Did you know that a single leaf was a sign of happiness in ancient times

 

 

And modern day Colorado?

 

 

 

My "Summer Leaves"  wall is inspired by the many dresses from the spring/summer runway shows that featured leaf motifs.

 

Temperley London

 

Bluemarine

 

 

 

 

                                                             Alexander McQueen

 

 



 

Marchesa

 

 

 

House of Rebecca

 

 

The base of my finish is Faux Effects Silver Palette Deco that is troweled in a high/low coat.

 

 

This is a beautiful acrylic metallic plaster.

 

Palette Deco usually dries well within 2 hours. I have noticed with humidity and air conditioning it make take longer. The surface should not feel tacky before you proceed to the next layer which is Lusterstone Tint Base.

I am applying the Lusterstone Tint Base by putting it on with the blade almost flat to the surface and then pulling the Lusterstone tight with the trowel edge.

And yes, I use Faux Effects products in my demos. It is what I teach, sell, and know. So if you want your project to look like mine that is what you have to use.  I can't tell you what using other product lines will look like or how to get this look some other way.

 

 

The Lusterstone over the Palette Deco is a very pretty finish.

 

 

Next I apply my leaves. I buy skeleton leaves from Save On Crafts. They are also available at Easy craft. These are delicate leaf fossils that come in a variety of colors, metallic, sizes, and styles.

 

 

There are several ways to apply leaves to plaster. One is to trowel the plaster, stick the leaf in, and trowel some more product over it.  I didn't want to loose the metallic sheen of my leaves, which are gold, silver, and a few natural. You can also use the leaves the make impressions in wet plaster.

 

I rolled a thick coat of C500 Satin in areas and stuck the leaves in.  You can gently roll over the leaves with a separate dry roller head-a wet roller head picks up the leaf.

 

Arranging the leaves is most of the challenge. Once the leaves are wet they become fragile. I would layout an idea on a styrene board and photograph before sticking in leaves willy nilly.  Each pack of leaves comes with 15-20 pieces.

I like to group more at the ceiling line and have them trail down the wall.  When the leaves are dry-overnight is best-mix more C500 Satin with our Bright Gold Laser Cut Fine Glitter.

 

I select a pattern that is gentle and will fade in and out around the leaves. This is Swirl City Reverse Stencil from Wallovers Stencils.

 

I think we have loved this pattern to death! Time to re-order.  I roll my glitter C500 over the pattern not worrying if I have 100% of the pattern filled. The glitter won't offload solid in this application.

 

The C500 Glitter should dry over-night. The next day I glaze with 1 pint Aquacreme (Faux Crème Clear if you are a gold label user) mixed with 1/4 cup Dark Brown Faux Crème Color. Your glaze will bead up slightly but pad it with a cloth to soften.  The colored glaze will highlight and darken the leaves slightly and bring out the glitter pattern. You do not need to seal the finish again.

 

Palette Deco covers about 250 square feet per gallon and the Lustersuede for the tight trowel covers 300 square feet. C500 rolls out almost 400 square feet.

And that "leaves" my post for the day!

 



 

Hopefully this finish grows on you!

 

(Don't worry, I won't quite my day job)

 

 

 

 





A Winter Inspired DIY: Frosty Sandstone



(Rankin/Bass Productions 1974)

"I'm Ms. Type A"

"I'm Ms. Oh, No! "

"I'm Ms. Does That Work?"

"I'm Ms. The More You Know."

Greetings from the snowy Mid-West. We received 20 inches based solely on

the measurement from my foot to my knee when I stepped in our yard. 

I actually think it is pretty and all the sparkly snow inspired my DIY project today. 

My Minion (seen above) is not as enthusiastic. 

"Can't you be inspired by Cancun or Hawaii," he says. 

 "Hush," I say. "Minions don't talk-they just dance and sing."

Before Mother Nature dumped on us we were discussing Sandstone.

So let's pick up on that conversation shall we?

I started by troweling a flat coat of Sandstone over a grey base coat. 

This is not a necessary step over a quality painted base but I like the grip I get

from the Sandstone and wanted it to peek through on my next layer. 

For speed, you could thin the Sandstone with waterand roll a coat as

well using a fluffy roller head. Rolling is faster but does

not give you an opaque layer.

I selected two colors of extra fine glitter for this project:

Hologram Glitter from Infinity and Chestnut Recollections Glitter from Michael's. 

Any fine glitter will work. 

Thin Sandstone with water to form a paste the consistency of Oatmeal

and add the glitters.  You should be able to see the glitter in the mix. 

You really can't add too much.  I buttered my trowel with the glitter paste

using a Japan Blade and popped it over the surface.

After popping on the Sandstone in connecting areas, I lightly flatten the areas. 
Using this technique will minimize the drag marks created by the glitter in
the Sandstone.  Apply this in 2ft sections in a long strip on the wall.

Then I rolled our Bark Specialty Roller through the wet Sandstone. 

The Sandstone will take awhile to dry so you have plenty of time

to work this pattern. 

Flip the roller as you work and roll through multiple times-

lots of lines are better!

Repeat across the wall.

Just a reminder-this is the roller handle to get for the Specialty Rollers.
A 4 inch stub cage that is at most home improvement stores for under $3. 
I cut a section of my rollers to fit this exact size to squeeze
into tight spaces.  For really small areas or tight ceiling lines I just
fake the pattern with a cut wallpaper brush. 

This Bark Pattern layer should dry well.  At this point you could sand the
finish to pop the glitter out and then lightly glaze with Dark Brown Faux Creme Color
mixed with either Faux Creme Clear or Aquacreme.  Or you could add a pretty pattern
(or maybe do this for a feature wall while leaving the bark rolled finish on the other walls?)

I mixed a darker glitter, Espresso Recollections Glitter, into Palette Deco Pearl. 

Here is a hint: When doing a feature wall try to select as many products as possible

with fast dry times like Palette Deco, Lusterstone, or Aquawax. 

There is nothing worse then waiting on one wall to dry. 

If you are doing a feature wall project only-you really want to maximize your profit

and lessen you travel by completing it in one day. 

Also, when working with light plasters or clear plasters

for a pattern you should add just a dash of color or finding the pattern match

will be really difficult-believe me, I have done it.

I wanted a lacy pattern like a snowflake but not literally a snowflake,

although that would be a great pattern.

But would every stencil have to be different and special?

Lol. Wait..where were we?

OK, we are rolling our pattern with the glitter mixed Palette Deco tinted with a little

Dark Brown Faux Creme Color.

This is the Kerry Damask Stencil from Cutting Edge.

When the pattern is dry, glaze over the whole surface.  I mixed

Dark Brown Faux Creme Color with some Aquacreme (1 part : 3 parts)

and brushed it over the surface using water and damp

cloth to move the color. 

The surface should look antiqued-don't bury out the glitter by

getting your glaze too dark and heavy.

I love finishes that resemble old fabrics. 

In the close-up you can see the bark pattern with glitter

and the contrast glitter in the damask pattern.

A wintry finish that doesn't feel cold. 

When the weather warms up we will shift to some spicy finishes.

Until then...

Dreaming of Warmer Weather is Heat Miser

(Rankin/Bass Productions 1974)

"He's Mister Thigh Master"

He's Mister Fun"

"He's Mister Weight Lifter"

He's Mister Cinnamon Bun"



A Romantic Finish for Valentine's Day

I speak of the pompetous of love

Of course that doesn't even make sense but when has love ever made sense?  While we ponder something complicated let's enjoy a simple romantic finish shall we? And why limit ourselves to red-let's go with a more popular color palette!

I started with an off-white base-in my case it is Neutral White Setcoat (Every product I used is from Faux Effects International and is part of the Silver Label Line). Then I popped on Silver Moss Lusterstone and Lustestone Tint Base covering about 95% of the base color.

Silver Moss Lusterstone is this great grey based green with a slight hint of blue. The Lusterstone tint base is a great alternative when you want a pearly look and the Crushed Pearl Lusterstone is too blue.  I troweled both vertically and horizontally to gently blend the two colors.  When dry, I used my new favorite pattern Antoinette Damask (even the name evokes tragic romance) from Royal Design Studio.

Then mix Palette Deco Pearl with sea foam glitter from Michael's, about 3 Tbsp per quart of plaster, and roll over the pattern.

The finish looks very pretty at this stage....







But I wanted to age it up so I brushed a glaze of Dark Brown Faux Creme Color over the top and softened with a damp cloth.

A romantic finish-perfect for a bedroom or bath.  Hope everyone has a lovely Valentine's Day.  By the way, "Pompetous" is a made up used in Steve Miller Band's song The Joker.  It is taken from the word "Puppetutes" which is a mash-up of "puppets" and "prostitutes" and was used in the 1954 song The Letter by The Medallions. 



DIY: The Pantry Finish

What better place to use leftovers then in a pantry. 

During our kitchen re-model we used space from our walk-in pantry to accommodate moving the refrigerator (now the fridge is flush with the counter top and looks built-in).  This meant removing shelving and a wall mounted spice rack.  Sure it was another space that was patched and dusty but it also presented an opportunity to clean, re-organize, and use some up some left-over products. That is the fun thing about a small space-You can do bolder finishes for a bigger impact with a little product.

I began by wiping off all the drywall dust and rolling a coat of Taupe Setcoat on the walls and the ceiling. This is a weird pinky purple beige that I don't use a whole lot. I selected it since I had some open and in the end the little bit that showed actually worked with the finish.  Next I used a sea sponge roller to apply Venetian Gem Belissimo in Sage.  Belissimo is a lighter creamier version of Faux Effects' Venetian Gem Plaster.  The Sage is a pretty grey-based pale green.  I covered about 80% of the base color, letting the plaster peek as I rolled it.

I rolled 3 walls before I went back with my trowel and flattened the peaks.  Belissimo is easy to roll in this application.  I love using Venetian Plaster as a base in finishes because it is saturated color, dries within an hour and is well-sealed when dry.

I opted to go with a silver metallic since the light fixture we put in the pantry has a rubbed black over silver. 

First, I troweled a high/low coat of Silver Palette Deco on the ceiling.  My ceiling had a drywall seam line and I am too lazy to mud and sand it properly so I thought I would use left-over plaster to build a finish over it.  Plus the Silver Palette Deco gives a nice glow under the future layers.

On the walls I alternated Silver Palette Deco and Silver Sharkskin using a sea sponge roller to create connecting areas.  You could substitute Silver Super Hide Metallic or Silver FauxMetal for the Silver Sharkskin.  Why use two silvers?  The Palette Deco is shiner and the Silver Sharkskin is more matte.  The Palette Deco will repel glaze and the Sharkskin will absorb the glaze.  Plus I had both.  The finish could be done just using one product and still look nice. 

Finishes like this are meant to go fast even though there are several layers.  The key is to not over-think the base layers. Yes, the finish will look spotty at first. Don't waste time making the base plaster and the silver pretty-these layers are about getting something up that looks random and organic.  Once I got the silvers applied I was able to apply my next layer on the first wall.

This is the layer where you finesse the finish by sea sponge rolling more Sage Belissimo to soften both the silver layer and any of the base paint.  Again, I rolled to leave peaks and came back later to lightly trowel them down.  The set time on the plaster keeps me from just smudging it. 

For the ceiling I troweled a tight layer of Rhino Lusterstone over the Palette Deco. Rhino is a new Lusterstone color that is a blue-green grey.

I did all the above layers in one day over 200 square feet of ceiling and wall space. I used a quart of Setcoat, a quart of Belissimo, 3/4 quart of Silver Palette Deco, 1/2 quart of Rhino, and 1/4 quart of Silver Sharkskin.

When I thinking of a pattern for a kitchen pantry, a checked one is what comes to mind. But we live in a contemporary home and a check is very traditional.  So I selected this slightly Moroccan pattern from Cutting Edge Stencils to give me that checkered tablecloth look while keeping it more modern. This stencil comes with a ceiling topper which makes it so easy to get right at the ceiling line to lap your pattern.

Hint:  Go all the way around the room with the topper first. This will let you know where to "fudge" your pattern in the most inconspicuous place and will allow you to work on several walls at a time while you are waiting for pattern areas to dry.

I mixed some Aquawax with Wheat Metal Glow (1 pint Aquawax : 1/4 cup Wheat) and added some very fine silver glitter from Michael's (1 TBSP).  Aquawax is a great choice for metallic stenciled patterns because you can roll it, it dries quick, and you can see through it to under layers.

While my wall pattern was drying, I troweled a tight layer of Palette Deco Pearl over the ceiling for added reflection. The Pearl Palette Deco over the Rhino gives the impression of old tin.

I always have some American Walnut Stain & Seal and FX Thinner left over from cabinet jobs.  I prefer using this mix as my glaze over products such as wax and venetian plaster that are slicker and want to repel glaze mediums.  The stain will bead up slightly-pad with a dry cloth to soften.  The stain mix will bond hard to the surface without any additional topcoat.  The warm brown of the stain really changes the color of finish and livens it up!

Since I am working on my Martha Stewart Merit Badges (don't laugh-this is a real thing) I decided to organize my new pantry.

I am good on the scissors and the cupcake but that metal thing that shoots steam has me stumped.

Next it was time to organize the pantry. I think Bruce deserves a nice space to store his ingredients since he has decided to take up cooking as a hobby.

I guess we didn't need that steamer after all.

A nice oil painting of an orange to remind of what fresh fruit is and that scurvy is bad.  You can see in the background my OCD in full action with the shelves all matching and bowls in ascending heights.

The black piece was actually the top of a buffet that I bought at a flea market years ago when it was painted purple.  I did a black rub back to silver and it fit perfectly to hold vegetables and fruit (see that painting really worked).  Lazy Susan's (need to ask Wiki how that name came about) and clear containers make it easy to locate pantry items. And just a reminder that this.....

did not happen on 12/21/2012.  I know that when you saw the Slaton pantry with actual food in it you thought for a moment that maybe the world did end.