Painting Basics - Faux Finishes
By Prudy Vannier
1012-4

“Faux” means fake, and a faux finish is a means of creating an effect with paint.

Marbling is the first example. This is easily done with a damp sponge and turkey feather. Use Black Green paint first. With a wet sponge, two medium color greens can be applied. When dry, the turkey feather can be used to create the veins in the marble by dragging the lightest green through it. Any color marble can be created with the same technique.

Sponging is a very simple faux finish. Paint a plaque light yellow. With a sponge add ivory, light orange, dark orange, rust and maroon.

Faux age can be added to a project easily by antiquing and fly specking with Burnt Umber. Antiquing can be brushed on and then lightly wiped. Fly specking is done with a fan brush dipped in diluted Burnt Umber then tapped to leave spatters over the design.

A linen texture look can be created by making stripes with a “wisp” brush. It was loaded with very thin paint, and then lightly dragged over the surface to make stripes.

There are many, many kinds of faux finishes, and as many tools to do the job. Experiment on your own to see what kind of effects you can make to use as a background for a project or to stand by itself on a table or wall.