The Shape of Things: Venetian Gem Plaster

We hope everyone had a happy and safe Thanksgiving! Welcome back to work! 

With the Holiday Season in full swing it is a busy time to get finishing projects done. It is also the final week of our November Sale on Faux Effects Venetian Gem Plaster. So let's take advantage of Venetian Gem's unique properties and a discount.

Tribeca Bronze Finish with Faux Effects Venetian Gem Plaster

Venetian Gem is an excellent base coat for creating pattern and designs. The thick nature and easy spread ability of the plaster makes it a  great match for shaping with a trowel, sea sponge roller or specialty roller.  The finish above is called Tribeca Bronze and it begins with Tiger's Eye Venetian rolled on with a sea sponge roller. This leaves the plaster with a texture similar to knock-down. In fact, this technique will go over orange peel walls.   The peaks are flattened with an application trowel. Then Palette Deco Bronze is pulled over the top followed by Lusterstone in Charred Olive. The Venetian Gem will polish on the flat areas creating a pleasing sheen.

In the above picture, I'm simply shaping Moonstone Grey Venetian Gem Plaster with a pointed Japan Trowel. The horizontal lines elevate the finish to something more like a wallpaper. Next, I tightly pull Faux Effects' New Stuco Lux Shimmer Tint Base over the Venetian Gem base. When this layer is dry I glaze it with Dark Brown Faux Crème Color and Faux Crème Clear glaze medium. The Stuco Lux has a soft twinkle that really creates a modern finish-love this new product! 

Venetian Gem is the perfect medium to use with specialty rollers.  If you add 1/4 cup (up to half a cup) of Faux Effects' Spatter Add to a gallon of Venetian Gem Plaster then you will have time to trowel the plaster from the top of the wall to the bottom in a width double your roller.  

The Spatter Add will keep the Venetian Plaster thick while slowing down the dry time-giving you time to roll through the base, create your pattern and then trowel/roll in the next section! This helps you go across longer walls or ceilings, keep the pattern shape and clean your roller easier. Bonus points.

The finish above is created with Venetian Gem in Black Oynx, a specialty roller and Old World Finishing Paint troweled on top and sanded back. 

Another plus for Venetian Gem is how well it seals. After shaping the plaster, it is an excellent base for foiled finishes. The nature of the plaster doesn't absorb the foil size and the slightly slick nature of the dried finish gives a nice release to the metallic foil.

The finish below uses the Faux Effects Snakeskin Stencil in Tiger's Eye Venetian Gem, Faux Effects Foil Size and Faux Effects Bronze Foil. 

This leads me to the final way to shape Venetian Gem-over stencil patterns.  I start with a simple troweled flat layer of Venetian Gem in my selected color and I use this same color for my pattern. That was if some product bleeds under my stencil it is no big deal.  

This is Venetian Gem in Ruby over the Faux Effects Alligator Stencil and is a durable classic furniture finish.

Although Venetian Gem has enough build for patterns it also has enough flexibility for canvas work as well. I build all my canvas art with a Venetian Gem base.  From this...

to this..

For canvas work, you may combine all the best features of Venetian Gem:  

• Rolling with a Sea Sponge Roller
• Shaping with a trowel
• Using over a stencil pattern
• A non porous base for foiling

         So many options with Venetian Gem!   If you're feeling inspired why not give this plaster a try.

          

Contact your local Faux Effects Distributor or Faux Effects International at www.fauxstore.com to place your order.

As always, thanks for reading!

Rebecca

Tile when your heart is aching.

Pat tern/padern/

Noun. A model or design used as a guide.

Verb. A regular intelligible form.

Ok. T.S. Eliot may have won a noble prize but he was wrong about one thing. April is not the cruelest month. February is.  That's why Valentine's Day is in the middle. All the roses, cards and chocolate are a ploy to take your mind off the fact that the month is bleak.

At least it is short.

Speaking of Valentines...One of the most recognizable patterns in the world is a heartbeat.  The same is true of brain waves.  So what happens when these two things seem to short-circuit?   Can something as simple as a cut piece of plastic hold the answer to resetting a heart to happiness and a brain to hope? And are the things that happen to us random luck or a pattern that is part of a larger story?

This is the story of my winter of discontent and how a stencil guided me back.

PART ONE: THINGS UNRAVEL.

In our business, February is the slowest month. The holiday rush for projects is over but finishers will often take a class in January to get the year started. This winter was particularly tough for studios given the shift in design trends. Ours was no exception.  I scrambled to get a class schedule together with more diversity and on-trend samples while working on a face lift for the studio. We held an open house for local finishers, designers, and potential clients.  And it paid off.! January was good-better then expected-which made February even more disappointing. 

Now Bruce still comes in and helps me with accounts.  I don't know which is more stressful: Watching him get sick while working or not knowing what else to do to make things better?  My brain is out of ideas. 

In the end I sent him to California to visit his family and enjoy some warm weather. Also I wanted him to avoid this:

As I noted before, my sweet husband used his Uber money to hire the crew that worked on our last house to help me. Every room in the "new" house looked like this...

and this.......

and this.......

At least Bridget, Jack and Murray seem enthusiastic.  I moved into the only room not torn apart, a guest room, with our  3 dogs....for 2 weeks. I think this is the 4th time since moving in that things have been put away and then packed up again. It's like moving every 3 months!

The house is covered in plastic and dust. I'm working in the rooms opposite of the painters to get stuff set-up before Bruce returns.  And when I finally think I'm getting things done....

I realize that I'm not dealing with the Top Brass. 

This happened when I started painting the walls...

There are specific primers that go over removed wallpaper. Then you let the mud dry well before sanding. After sanding you WIPE OFF THE DRYWALL DUST before priming again.  Every time I rolled my paint which is a quality Benjamin Moore, the walls bubble and then peel.  What is worse? The crew does not fix the problem or reimburse us anything for the poor job. All I can think about is Bruce working hard to pay these bozos!

I can tell that he is becoming tired even while he pushes ahead these past few months.  But right now, Bruce is in California riding go-karts and ultra-lights. He is at a beautiful wedding and viewing a private car collection.  This should make me happy. I wish I could say that I'm bigger then this. Braver then this. But I'm broken.  I throw my trowel every time the paint peels. The dogs hide in their kennel.  I sit on the top of the stairs and cry with my shoulders hunched over. 

I call 2 other contractors to help me on projects. One never sends me a bid. The other one never even shows up.  How will I pull this house together? How will I pull myself together?

While I'm trying to figure out how to save my husband, my business and my home, my body is also done.  I can't figure out how to start running again. My legs feel like lead. Something that I used to enjoy just seems like one more thing I need to fix. What happened to my mojo? All I want is to wake up happy and feel optimistic.

So I do what thousands of the unhappy and unhinged do each year. I go to Florida.

PART TWO: LET THE SUNSHINE IN.

When you are depressed find the friend that makes a good breakfast and serves good champagne. For us that is Mr & Mrs. Smith.

Not them.

Way more fabulous.

Our oldest friends welcome us to their home.  Every morning Burks makes a yummy breakfast with a Bloody Mary.

Kim has coffee and lively conversation ready. My shoulders that are rubbing against my ears begin to relax.  Our trip to Florida is not only social. I signed up for the Gasparilla Half Marathon before things started to fall apart. Here I am about to run a competitive race without much training. And I have to be at the start before dawn.

What was I thinking?  How sweet that Bruce drove me to the race at the un-holy hour of  5am.

My brain is a jumble as I start.  Running in the dark as I'm going over every thing that is wrong in my life the sun starts to come up.  It hits the ocean water just right and I take in the sparkle.  I can really see the people around me now all trying to accomplish something. There is an elderly man bent so far over that he can't look straight. And a woman with a shirt dedicated to someone she loved and lost.

 I start thinking how Bruce is here-not just at the race but in my life. I have these great friends sharing their hospitality.  It reminds me how much my friends at home have helped me.  Someone says, "looking good" as we pass mile 10.  And I smile because for the first time in months I really believe it. 

The weather is beautiful as I finish in 2 hours. Not a PR but a respectable time.  More importantly, my body reminded me that it wasn't giving up. It knew the pattern. Now my brain needed to get on board and let the sunshine in.  I can hardly walk but I'm happy to enjoy brunch with Bruce and the Smiths on this beautiful day.

After we get home, I'm sitting by the Smith's pool checking emails. And I see this....

Royal Design Studio is having a contest to name a new tile stencil.  The tile is inspired by vintage Spanish 1920's design.  For some reason this resonates with me even thought it seems totally unrelated to my current state.

 For a creative person, I am a literal thinker. So I google Spanish Homes in the 1920's.  This comes up....

El Marisol, a mansion built in Palm Springs...Florida. It reminds me of the homes I ran by earlier in the day. The one's I passed in the morning sunshine. The name comes from Mary, Our lady of Solitude. This seems appropriate. Running is a solitary sport even when you are in a race. And what I've been going through lately makes me feel alone.

Marisol. It is also associated with two Spanish words mar y sol. Sea and Sun.  Both things with rhythmic soothing patterns. Things I've enjoyed on my Florida break. I submit my name to the contest, finish my beer and relax. Even if I don't win, for the first time in months I don't feel like I'm losing.

PART THREE: ALL BECOMES CLEAR

I win!  I am unreasonable happy when I get the email from Royal Design Studio. I start researching Spanish tile. While looking at the patterns it becomes clear to me where and how to use the style in our own home. Suddenly the disaster that I call the kitchen doesn't seem so unsolvable.

My Marisol Damask Tile Pattern with stencil topper.

The first colorway I try is OK but not quite right. I decide to integrate my Rockport Grey paint color into the pattern and  the Rapid Rust that I love. Then somehow it all comes together. It is bold and cheerful. The palette pulls together the room.

I am feeling truly inspired-not the fake "I'm going to act like I'm with it to be inspiring" for my blog, Facebook or Instagram followers.  But the deep knowing in your heart and brain that you are breaking through the block that is holding you down.  That feeling of not only anticipating the finished project but enjoying the process.

And when it is done, I knew what to paint my cabinets and how to fix the awful pantry doors. I could finally put away things that were in storage since July 2015.  The clutter in other parts of the house is now gone.

Bruce tells me he loves it and I can see him relaxing as we enjoy dinner together. My parents visit and say it's so much brighter which is funny since the walls before were much lighter. Our new neighbors come in and gush, "That looks like something in a magazine."

And me?  I go in early every morning to make coffee at my new station and feed the dogs.  I look at my tile wall and smile.  It makes me feel happy. It reminds me how I can create beautiful things. It encouraged me to finish other projects in the house. My creativity is sparked at the studio again.

Things are starting to look like home. Like us. I understand when you have chaos you need to find order.  Even when it doesn't seem like it - there is a design to it all.

I turned a corner after February.  My attitude shifted.  I feel more optimistic. Business has improved. I started running again. Now, I will confess that I still worry about the future. But I look at my wall and know I am capable of pulling it together- of pulling myself together. I will need that reminder in the future but for now I am secure in understanding it is possible.

Yes it was just a simple contest. Yes, it is just a piece of pretty plastic. And Yes, it is just a stencil-like the hundreds of stencils I've used in the past.

But this time. It was the pattern of my life.

Watching the Wheels Go Round and Round

It is always flattering and exciting to complete an article for a national magazine.  Studios magazine first appeared on my radar earlier this year when Melanie Royals had a great feature about Royal Design Studio. She graciously passed our name along to the editors and sent me an email. And, like a dope, I didn't do any thing with the opportunity.  I guess Studios was meant to be, because they called me this summer about a DIY project for the magazine. This time my friend Jennifer Bertrand, a winner of  HGTV's Next Design Star, had passed on my name.  Wow! I am a lucky to know talented women.  And this time I wasn't going to squander the opportunity. This is the result:

 

 

But how did I get there?  When you are preparing something for a magazine, you have to set some parameters before you start. In this case I had the following:

1.  The audience for Studios Magazine is creative people interested in how other artists live and work.
2. My job is to show a finish that an artist might be inspired to use in their space with steps they could easily follow.
3. It has to be visually interesting with details that photograph well.
4. The number of products and steps must be limited, price conscience but also creative.
5. It had to be finished in 5 days.

You also want an article to reflect who you are as an artist. For me, I enjoy layering patterns and treating wall surfaces like hand-printed paper, fabric or a collage. Circles are my shape of choice (I have the motif all over my home) and I lean toward rusty modern industrial styles. Venetian Gem Plaster is my go-to-product from Faux Effects. It is pre-tinted, easy to trowel, holds a pattern well, dries fast, and is durable!

 

My "wall" is Gator Board because I wanted a larger scale sample that looked as much like a real project as possible. Don't you wish you could always just pick up your wall?  The only thing better? Having wings!

 

 

I buttered my blade with Faux Effects Venetian Gem in Tiger's Eye and troweled on a high/low medium coat about the thickness of cake frosting. My mother tells me, "The only part of you they see in the magazine is your hands and they are stained! Couldn't you get your hands at least clean?" This is the faux finishing version of "wear clean underwear in case you are in an accident!" 

 

Hold the trowel loose and at a 45% angle to spread the plaster. Use the Japan Blade to keep your trowel clean.  Less then 10% of the base is showing. 

 

Then you get people in the shop to take awkward pictures of you doing layers while you try to look natural. I used the Large Funky Wheel from Cutting Edge for my first shape. I like this pattern because you can make different sized circles depending on where you fill in.

 

Next, I wanted to add things to give me the collage feeling. But it had to be big enough to see in a picture and easily accessible. I used some big letter stencils from Michael's and troweled over them with the Venetian Plaster.  Then it is time to blow dry the wall....

 

 

and post a collage to Instagram!

 

I found these great rubber lace placemats shopping with my sister who gave me a weird look when I only bought two. "I'm not going to eat on them silly," I tell her. "I'm going to pull plaster over them of course!"  Why would I put a plate over a perfectly good pattern source?

Here is my wall drying. Using one color is a good way to hide when your plaster bleeds under the pattern.

 

 

OK! This is where I go off script and forget my punch list.  I decide to trowel Palette Deco Bronze and Palette Deco Silver over the finish using a cloth to soften the chatter.

And this is how I stand while I do it!

 

 

And post! Do you guys remember when you worked without a cell phone camera? Me neither.

 

And then I sanded...

 

 

And I glazed with 2 colors...

 

And I top coated....

 



 

And photographed it!

 

Then I realized it. While it was very pretty in person, I had lost the pattern. It was too busy to photograph well! And I had added extra steps! And more product! And burned 2 days!  This was a "make it work moment."

 

I rolled my Venetian Gem Plaster finely over the finish to get it back to the right base and color. When it was dry, I rolled Setcoat Metallic Gun Metal over the whole thing. This is how you demo the roll and soften chatter moves.

 

 

When the Gun Metal was dry, I used a power sander to reveal the brown tips of the pattern. Venetian Gem sticks really well! Then I glazed with Aquacreme and Dark Brown Faux Crème Color. Remember I also have to use Silver Label products so people can buy the stuff if they want to do this project.

 

 

Yes, those are still my Spider Monkey hands.

 

 

I rolled a coat of C500 Gloss and took a picture.  Thank goodness! It photographed much better and had less steps. Whew! Then I formatted the pictures (too small the first time) and wrote the Step by Step. After everything went to the editor, I had a nice chat with the writer who does the introduction.

 

And now I may shame my whole family with my dirty hands on national news stands!

 

Studios Magazine Fall 2014 issue is available at Arts and Crafts Stores, Barnes & Nobel, and by ordering on-line.