 Decorative artist and painter Patricia Mohr Kramer offers these starting tips for creating faux-fabric paint effects.
Move quickly. All three faux-fabric finishes require a base coat then a second coat of paint and glaze, which you roll on the drag off with a specialty brush. Depending on the desired effect, you drag different tools in different directions. But for all three techniques, the surface must stay wet, so you must work fast.
Manage the space. If two people work on the project, let one person roll on the glaze and the other person drag the tool. Work in an even flow around the room.
If you paint solo, work the surface in 3-foot panels, dividing the room into manageable sections. Mark vertical lines ever 3 feet, tape off the sections, then do the faux-fabric finish on every other panel. Allow the previous panels to dry before finishing the adjacent sections. There’s no need to keep a wet edge for blending one panel into the other; a thin line between the panels looks more realistically like lengths of fabric hung on the wall.
Wipe your brush after every dragging stroke. Besides the required paints and brushes, keep a supply of wet rags handy. For all techniques, after every stroke, use the rags to wipe off the brush and clear the bristles of excess glaze. |
