Hey, All.
I have been getting great results with Milk Paint on Early American furniture, and would like to expand my technique to include the “distressed” look that is so popular.
Can anyone offer suggestions on how-to or sources for videos, articles, instructors, those sorts of things. Open to just about any source that will guide me to an authentic look, not a cheesy look.
Thank you for your assistance.
Replies
Go to HGTV.com and look for "faux finishes".
Thank you for your suggestion, Gretchen. I may be wrong, and a bit of an elitist, but I have the impression that HGTV is geared toward the homeowner/housewife with little or no experience. Every program and every article I have ever read from them seems to be at a level way below the craftsman. Have they upgraded? Do they gear more for the craftsman now?
A distressed finish is not rocket surgery, in my opinion. They have many references to many ways. I don't know if you want a crackle finish, a "worn in spots" finish, a "chain beaten" finish or what. All of these are basically a "craft" finish in my opinion. Before discounting the whole affairs, I'd take a look and decide if that was what would meet your needs. Even housewives can do some quality things. I think you might even find something of interest. And let's see, this IS the first time for you to do a distressed finish, isn't it?
http://web.hgtv.com/hgtv/web/searchResults/1,8213,,FF.html?searchString=faux%20finishes&searchType=Aggregate
I have seen too many painted finishes made yesterday that attempted to convince me they weren't. And I have seen the real McCoy that is a beauty to behold.
Alternatively, go to Home Depot or Lowe's or Pottery Barn or Restoration Hardware. All have good books on painted finishes of various kinds. Might not suit you, but worth a look and many are VERY complex in their steps, if that is what is needed.
Or go here and choose. http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=br_ss_hs/102-5629728-6608146?platform=gurupa&url=index%3Dstripbooks%3Arelevance-above&keywords=faux+finishes
Gretchen
Edited 7/15/2006 12:03 pm ET by Gretchen
Good suggestions and again, thank you for the information. I am looking for two basic finishes: crazed or crackled, and "worn" for lack of better term. In the past, I've applied two coats milk paint, the last has been rubbed off with a scotch-brite pad or 220-grit, revealing the color underneath in the "worn" areas, but I had thought my technique, for some reason, to not be the "professional" way.As to Metod's comments: I agree. I prefer a new finish, as attempts at making things look like something they are not never looks right. Now having said that, if someone wants to throw money at me to make a piece "distressed", I'm all for it.I stay away from chains, ice picks, and the like, after hours of work making a quality piece, I can't bring myself to destroy it.Thanks again,John
When our daughter and husband made the "rubbed off" finish for their furniture, they sanded the areas back to bare wood and then applied a glaze of wood stain over the whole piece so that thos areas were darkened a bit.If you are using a two paint system then I think you may need to use the vaseline method to keep the paint off of the "wear" areas, a process I think is harder to control.Gretchen
BG and Grethen,Great ideas. Thank you.I had heard wax was good, too. Candles or bowling alley.Any more info on the folks in PA? Phone? E-mail?Cheers,John
Capnjohn,
Norm built a Windsor chair that was aged. He visited wih Bill and Sally Wallick in Wrightsville, PA. She applied the finish.
They may not be too far from you...maybe a phone call would help
Roger that. Sounds like sound advice.
Cheers.
John
Go to your local library and find "faux finishing" books. they are popular and will have lot of em...
Here is a piece that was painted dark brown, then all the places I wanted the brown to show thru I rubbed with a block of softened beeswax. Then I painted it with a light yellow. then I rubbed the places where I put the wax on with a plastic scouring pad, to remove the yellow and show the brown.
Then I used a van dyke brown glaze to give it a dirty look and darken the corners. finally a coat of w/b flat poly varnish and it was done...hope pic not to big
Bud
Didn't know if you'd seen the Mike Dunbar article about milk paint. The original, published in FWW, also gives some more examples, iirc.
http://www.milkpaint.com/about_art-fw.html
http://www.taunton.com/finewoodworking/Materials/MaterialsPDF.aspx?id=2593
There is nothing wrong with a distressed finish. It is a decorating possibility that fits very well with many people's home decor. If you are all too high and mighty for it, then decline. It isn't about education. It IS about lifestyle and what people want in their homes. It can be and is VERY attractive.
I just don't want an "antique" dealer to try to sell me a homemade finish.
And--it can be refinished!
No.
I don't want an antique dealer to try to charg me $5000 for a piece of furniture that is not old but he/she insists is.
I don't mind a person wanting that style of decor and not being able to afford the real thing and pay the $350 that our children charged for their bookcases.
Is that the final word?
Thought so.,
Dear Captain,
I too enjoy painting earrly american furniture and have experimented, not so much with distressing per se, but attempting to create believable surface finishes. My advice wouldd be to skip the crackle out of hand. Instead try some of these techniques:
1) milk paint whatever you want- 3 coats, 1 color then rub it out with a scotch brite pad. Don't rub thru the paint, just rub long enough to get that luster. I find mixing small amounts of black with any dark color produces a nice sheen
2) Wash over with very very thin black. Let it run into nooks and crannies and blot it off of broad surfaces. You may need many application to build up the color.
3) Apply linseed oil in several coats. This will darken the paint a little and make whatever paint job you've applied more subtle.
4) Wax
Tho they probably didn't use milk paint 300 years ago, this finish looks like early oil paint to me.
Here's another approach:
1) Start with a coat of oily stain such as minwax puritan pine
2) Wait a day or three.
3) Apply milk paint. They say you can't do this and that the milk paint won't stick. But you can do it and the paint sorta sticks.
The result is a blotchy-semi translucent look that can look pretty good. I mixed up a faux cherry like this. So it was puritan pine, then 3 parts salmon (or pumpkin) 1 part lexington green. Its was applied over pine. It doesn't look like chery. But it looks like something some shaker sort wanted to look like cherry.
You can further wear your furniture with scotch brite. The trick is not doing too much or doing it in the wrong or too few spots. Also, dye the bare wood before painting so you aren't left with this bright white wood.
Adam
I like Adam's schedules. Milk paint gives a very authentic look, even though it isn't for 18th. c. furniture. I think it is because the pigment seems more coarse. And it doesn't look like the original colors, which often were quite bright, so much that today we might call them garish. But many of the pigment colors were so fugative that they fairly quickly changed to the darker, more subdued colors we think "right" for old furniture.
Crackle in particular, at least to me, is very tricky. And, done even a little wrong the surface screams fake.
As far as the aesthetic of using distressed finishes, I see nothing wrong. I live in New England where there are lots of 18th and early 19th century houses. They are not just museum pieces. Their owners have enough to do keeping them habitable and out of the clutches of the philistines who would slap vinyl on the exteriors, that to expect them to forego the period look unless they can pay for original period pieces makes no sense.
To Adam and all the other faux painters who offered suggestions. They were all great. Thank you so much for them. I appreciate your sharing your techniques and the sense of fun with the finishes that came through in the notes.Thank you.John
I'd like to put in a good word for distressed finishes. I have done several now (at the request of customers to begin with... but on my own more recently) and I think that they can be among the VERY BESTsort of finishes. I like the idea of leaving some tool marks and/or other imperfections and blending them into a fine patina that has history and interest as an integral part of it's look. I think that it is among the most interesting of finishes and certainly among the most practical for items that will get wear. I do NOT consider them to be fake aging looks... I regard them as finishes which utilize the elements in the most attractive of aged finishes to create similar attractiveness in newer pieces. Many older pieces just look old and yucky. Well done distressed pieces have the glow and rich interest of fine antiques and sometimes even more yet. They are also very efficient finishes... when refinishing they eliminate excess effort to remove everything that looks aged and instead utilize those elements to ADD to the overall interest and attractiveness. I often find that I can incorporate most of the previous finish into my renewed patinas. For brand new pieces they allow some saw marks and some tool scarring to become beauty marks instead of troublesome, effort consuming flaws. I am a master finisher, a full time professional of literally VAST experience and I can create any look that I (or anyone else) may want to. I have done every sort of finish including all types of faux finishes. I have done them all in world class fashion too. Among them all I'd have to say that the distressed/aged patina looks are at or near the very peak of attractiveness/beauty/interest. One caveat is that poorly done finishes will not look great and that holds true for EVERY type of finish that can be done. The great eye, the skilled hands, the loving attitude, and the joy de vivre of the finisher is evident in the final appearance. Distressed/aged looks give ample opportunity for the expression of these attributes exposing the skills of the finisher more clearly than most.
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