The Letterville BullBoard: What's your favourite paint effect?

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Posted by Kookaburra (Member # 254) on :

OK. Right at the moment I have a coupe of projects on the go, for art and design tech at school (yes, school again

) And I'm interested in learning how to do faux finishes... Now, I just want to know, what is your favourite finish? marble? sandstone? How do you get a convincingly realistic look? etc etc etc...

So, what is your favourite? And how do you do it? I've collected quite a bit of info already, mostly from www.fauxlikeapro.com ... But any more would be great! Am also looking into trompe l'oeil... Does anyone know any of the background history on this method of painting??? Just interested

OK, I'll stop pestering for information now

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From Katie Wright, 16 year old professional signie wannabe from Aus.

"Life is a great big canvas, throw all the paint on it that you can"

Posted by PKing (Member # 337) on :

My favorite is:Black background(dry)coat over with One Shot Pearlescent"Blue Green"(any pearl will do)Hit with wrinkled plastic bag to show black through the pearl while creating random effect.
Hope this helps.

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PKing is
Pat King of
King Sign Design in
McCalla,Alabama
The Professor of
SIGNOLOGY

Posted by Joey Madden (Member # 1192) on :

Funny you should mention that Duckie as I like the pearl colors but only use them over metallics. Since all of my work is done on vehicles I find that using the HoK silver on non metallic vehicles which dries the faster of the two paints its than possible to finish the project without waiting time. I use a number of finishes using plastic forks, rubber bands, natural sponge, metal screens and sometimes a compass.
Actually my favorite thing is striping a color that is almost the same as the vehicle itself which gives it more of a complimentry component rather than a contrast and comes in focus in the shade more than with light.

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HotLines Joey Madden
Pinstriper and designer of the Inflite'
See it go to work http://www.killerkoncepts.com
learning capabilities http://www.members.tripod.com/Inflite

Posted by Brenda Daley Giuseppin (Member # 37) on :

Home decorating books are great resources for faux finishing. You do have to take into consideration of different types of paints your using, but techniques are the same.

Biggest thing with a lot of faux finishes is "glaze". You can use this with your colours and create different textures and variations of your colours you are using.

Just remember to use the right type of glaze with your paint.

I personally love the marble and granit effects. It's very easy!

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Brenda Beaupit
Classic Graphics
Kemptville, Ont
CANADA

Posted by Stephen Deveau (Member # 1305) on :

Hey PKing
I love doing the plastic bag or rag or newspaper effects aswell!
Or even speckling with a toothbrush or brush.
Graining combs are nice as well.

Raven/2001

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Raven/2000
Airbrushed by Raven
Lower sackville N.S.
deveausdiscovery@sprint.ca

Posted by LazyEdna (Member # 266) on :

Faux finishes are wonderful... just a bit time consuming.
Here's a technique that yields really terrific results.
Use any two colors you wish... keeping in mind color theory and values so you don't waste your time.
After your base coat has dried, paint on your second color.. if using latex paint (for interior walls) you need to work fast. If using oil base, you need to let the paint set for a few moments.. not tack up.. just set. Step two is to apply long strips of plastic wrap right off the roll directly onto your surface... try to keep the plastic flat but don't worry about wrinkles... after the plastic is stuck to the fresh paint, gently wrinkle it with fingers... experimenting will show you how much to move it depending on what look you are after. Let wrinkled plastic set a minute, then pull off... makes a marvelous texture.. often looks like marble.
LE

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LazyEdna
in RL known as Sara Straw
from southern Utah
5 National Parks within 3 hours drive
Red Rock Heaven

Posted by Cam Bortz (Member # 55) on :

My favorite painting tricks are done with shading and blocking; blended split shades and the like. One interesting application is to "frame" your sign panel with paint, especially if it's an oval or has interesting curves or angles.

Start by determining the angle of your "light" which will determine which sides are light and how they fade to dark. Lay down the base color, let it dry, then mix a tinting glaze with white and one-shot tinting clear. Apply your glaze on the "edges" of the frame that are illuminated by your light source, building them up in the center and blending the tint very thin as your curves turn away from the light source.
Do the same with a shading glaze using black (or a darker tone of base color) in the tinting clear, applied to the "dark" side of your object, which is always opposite of the light source. Practice by looking at objects lit from an angle to get a feel for how highlights and shadows fall.

A more complex variant is blended shades, or "blocking" as it's called in Britain. Imagine your letters as cut-out blocks, and use paint to render the highlights and shades according to the light source. Consistency in placement of highlights and shades, from one letter to the next, is the mark of excellence.

One way to "juice" your blended shades on letters is to blend your colors wet in the brush. Paint your highlight and shadow colors right up to one another, then let dry. Now, using the two same colors, palette them together on a clean brush. Taking a quill in hand, wet one side of the brush in one color, and one side of the brush in the other. Stroke them in one direction only on your palette so the colors are blending wet, then immediately apply to the "seam" between your highlight and shading colors. Do this with ONE STROKE - it can't be finessed - across the width of the color.

The results, with a bit of practice, are striking and very realistic. One of the best at this technique is Karen Souza in Massachusetts; I learned it from her. Look up photos of her work in SignCraft for examples and inspiration.

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"A wise man concerns himself with the truth, not with what people believe." - Aristotle

When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro. - Raoul Duke (Hunter S. Thompson)

Cam
Finest Kind Signs
256 S. Broad St.
Pawcatuck, Ct. 06379
"Award winning Signs since 1988"

Posted by Mike Languein (Member # 319) on :

I love doing marble but, alas, everybody else is better at it than I am. I'm learning, though...

I like to do wood graining, using Benwood Interior Stains and top coating with Varathane #90 Clear Gloss. Best ones I do are Mahogany, Walnut Burl and Quarter Sawn Oak (my favorite).

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"If it isn't fun, why do it?"
Signmike@aol.com
Mike Languein
Doctor of Letters
BS, MS, PhD
___________________

You know what BS is, MS is More of the Same, and it's Piled Higher and Deeper here

Posted by Kookaburra (Member # 254) on :

Sounding good so far... I am experimenting at the moment, seeing how good I can get the marble to look, dofferent ways of applying the paint, etc. Now I can try all these other great techniques!

Thankyou so far, any more want to share some of their favourite finishes, and how to achieve them?

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From Katie Wright, 16 year old professional signie wannabe from Aus.

"Life is a great big canvas, throw all the paint on it that you can"

Posted by Mike Languein (Member # 319) on :

Here's a quick & fun way to get a marble effect: Get a small spray bottle to spray turpentine with. Paint out your background with a good wet coat and streak it on a diagonal with 2 or 3 shades of your base color, whilst still wet, and fairly heavy. (Not real thick, just wet). Spray some turps and watch it flow as you slightly tip the piece back and forth.
When it gets to the point you like it stop the movement and lay it level 'til it dries.
Carl Rohrs showed us this at the Denver LetterHeads' Meet in '85. I like to use shades of grey. After it dries you can add veining with a feather.

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"If it isn't fun, why do it?"
Signmike@aol.com
Mike Languein
Doctor of Letters
BS, MS, PhD
___________________

You know what BS is, MS is More of the Same, and it's Piled Higher and Deeper here

Posted by Mark Fair Signs (Member # 289) on :

to make a flat panel look RICH, i like to scribe a 1" border, then break it up for a bevel edge effect.
simple to do with a darker shade of the background color and a lighter shade.

pat neve turned me on to a book at jimmy's dixie meet in commerce ga.
the complete handbook to faux finishes.

one cool book, go to amazon.com through this website and do a quick search for books on faux finishes.

have fun with it!

mark

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Mark Fair

Mark Fair Signs
http://www.markfair.com

Home of "Sign of the Month
http://www.markfair.com/signomonth.html

2162 Mt. Meigs Road
Montgomery, Alabama 36107
334-262-4449

mark@markfair.com

"Mark Fair is a Proud Contributor to The Letterhead Site!"

Posted by David Fisher (Member # 107) on :

Gday Katie,
Try this one...
paint your background in say a buttercup yellow, let it dry then mix up about 10% mid-dark brown with 90% clear and brush it over the top.
Let it set up (dry off) a smidge and then drag the brush across it in heavy parallel strokes for a better than passable woodgrain.
If you cant wait for it to set up you could also use a piece of light card torn roughly to give you a nice irregular bunch of parallel lines through your glaze.
Another nice one is to use a green base coat and a glaze with plenty of black in it and do the same thing with the torn piece of cardboard. If you use a wavey stroke followed by an acute change of direction you can get a malachite effect that is indistinguishable from the real thing.
Damn good fun experimenting, if you want a particular texture just run through a mental list of stuff you normally throw out and I bet you can find something to do the job.
Have fun,
David

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D.A. & P.M. Fisher Signwriting
Brisbane Australia
da_pmf@yahoo.com

Posted by Gailforce (Member # 152) on :

i'm not sure if they're my favorite, but, i'm really good at faux wood finishes...

thought i'd share a glaze recipe with you...

1 cup water-based varathane
1/2 cup water
3 tbsp or more of floetrol

makes 2 cups glaze. mix 2:1 ratio. 2 parts glaze, 1 part paint. . .

this worked well for me during a big job i was doing with faux wood in the restaurant, bar and lobby of a hotel recently.

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gail
wacky wetcoast of bc

Posted by Kookaburra (Member # 254) on :

Thanks for all the replies... I'm going to try some of these out now... Thanks again!

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From Katie Wright, 16 year old professional signie wannabe from Aus.

"Life is a great big canvas, throw all the paint on it that you can"

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