Here are a few examples of my experiments, some more successful than others.
The boat was my first foray into faux finishing. I'd always had wooden boats
and couldn't live with this bathtub as it was! Notice the name?
I've found Stuart Spencer's "The Art of Woodgraining" very helpful. He has
color plates for all the stages and he uses a number of different materials
for effects.
Basically I use a strong orange egg-shell, oil-based paint, sand as flat as
I can and then mix an oil glaze using artist colors and sometimes some oil
base glazing liquid which gives a bit of body and transparency. I then
French polish over it using some dry color to antique. Mostly I'm trying to
recreate mahogany or walnut. Sometimes I just play with the brush on a
sample board and try different strokes and shakes until something clicks.
Sometimes I'm looking for a primitive, obvious faux and other times I'm
really trying to fool the eye. French polishing really gives it a sense of
age and allows for a bit more tinting.
John Coffey
Locust Valley, NY
