Marbleizing How To
Painting a room is fun, and exciting. It can give the room a whole new look and feel. It is like an interior facelift for your home. The best part about painting is that the options with color, texture, and technique are limitless. In fact, the choices vary considerably. One option you have that gives outstanding results is marbleizing. This is a fun faux finish that can make any room look superb.
So, what exactly is marbleizing? Marbleizing is a painting technique where you use the idea of layering tinted glazes over a white or colored basecoat to create a marble like finish, which is rather stunning. This technique works well in several areas of the home, not just walls, in fact it can be used on a variety of surfaces for outstanding results, surfaces such as fireplace mantels, columns, furniture, and more.
Marbleizing gives the look and feel of luxury, and costs very little. In fact, it is something you can master, and do throughout your house with a little patience. You will need the following tools to marbleize:
- Latex paint for base coat
- Latex paint for glaze colors
- Blend & Glaze (Latex Formula)
- Brush, roller & paint tray for basecoat
- Containers for glaze colors
- 1 Natural sea sponge
- 1 Pointed artist brush
- 1 Turkey feather
- 1 Cotton lint free rag
- 1 Small plastic plate
- 4" Mask tape
- Plastic drop cloth
After you have gathered your supplies, let the fun begin. Before you start on the wall, make sure you know what colors you like, try some samples out, and experiment a little before you go to work. Once you know exactly what you want, start by prepping the room for painting then apply the base coat. You will want to be sure to use a quality latex semi-gloss paint and make sure that all surfaces not to be painted are taped off and well protected.
Once your basecoat is on you will want to get the formula for the glaze. Be sure to use the same type of latex paint as used for the basecoat in the color(s) of your choice. Then make the glaze by diluting as necessary. Start with the basic formula of:
1 part latex paint
2 parts water
6 parts Blend & Glaze
Once your glaze is formulated and ready it is time to prepare for marbleizing by taping off baseboards and ceiling, and making sure items not to be painted are properly covered. Then apply the glazes:
Step 1 : Use a damp sponge to dab on the first glaze color. You will want to put this color over the entire work area, but be sure to let the base coat show through. Let dry.
Step 2: Repeat this process with your other glaze colors. Apply the colors a bit more randomly so that the first sponged color and basecoat can be seen. It is not recommended to use more than four glaze colors. However, to get a true marble look, the colors should be close in shades.
Step 3: Now that your glazes are applied you want to go through the wall and make it look like marble. You do this by veining. Put a small amount of Blend & Glaze on a plastic plate. Add a very small amount of white paint to color it. Load the tip of an artist brush with the paint mixture. Drag brush across the surface to create veins. The turkey feather is for the same purpose. Dip the turkey feather in the glaze mixture and drag in the same manner. This will give you a variety of veins
Step 4: With a lint free rag, lightly smear some of the veins in a few spots. This will create a softer, more natural look.
Step 5: After the walls have dried completely (24 hours), apply a top coat of clear acrylic finish, a gloss finish is recommended.
And last but not least enjoy the beauty and elegance of your marbleizing!
