In the previous article (Paint – More than just rolling something onto your walls), we looked at how important it is to paint correctly, especially when planning to do a technique. The coats of paint that you put on in the previous article are known as the basecoat of your technique.
The colour of you basecoat is extremely important because it will set the colour of what your glaze is going to look like when applied.
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Depending on what you are trying to achieve, your basecoat can be either lighter than the glaze that you will be using to do the tech
nique, or it can be darker. As a good rule of thumb; if the glaze is supposed to be darker than the basecoat, it should be a lot darker, and if it is supposed to be lighter, it should be a lot lighter. The reason is that the glaze gets spread very thinly over the basecoat in order to achieve that washed effect. So if the difference in shade is not substantial, you will not get the desired effect.
I prefer to use a light basecoat with a dark glaze on walls. I often go the other way around when doing a technique on furniture. The trouble when using a dark basecoat with a light glaze on walls is that it becomes extremely streaky and does not look nice except if you plan to do a baby room with a nice blue basecoat and a white glaze.
Tools you will need: mutton cloth (the rough one, not the smooth one), 50mm paint brush (good quality, more expensive ones are preferable), a 75mm paint brush, scissors and your glaze.
You can have your local paint shop (not hardware shop that sells paint) make some glaze up for you, or you can do it yourself. Even though I have worked with glazes for many years, I still prefer my paint suppliers to make the glaze up for me. It is much less messy.
You can also choose between two typ
es of glaze: oil-based or acrylic based. I prefer oil-base. It takes longer to dry and therefore give you some time to work around the edges that you are going to create as you glaze. It is however a bit more difficult to clean, so be careful of carpets and your clothes.
Oil-based glaze is made up of one part oil-based colour paint (I only use Plascon Velvaglo), one part oil-based scumble glaze (preferably Plascon) and one part mineral turpentine. Acrylic based glaze is one part acrylic based colour paint (Like Plascon Double Velvet) one part acrylic based scumble glaze (preferably Plascon) and one part water. Any of these can be applied over an acrylic basecoat.
When doing a wash technique, I prefer using a glossy basecoat (usually they say it has a sheen) as apposed to a mat basecoat. Mat basecoats tend to absorb the glaze a lot quicker and therefore might not give you the effect that you require. It also makes the application a lot harder and too precise for my liking.
After everything is ready; your basecoat is painted on and nicely dry – preferably a day or two after you painted – and your glaze is mixed and ready, you can start.
I like to start in a bottom corner and work myself up from there. Cut yourself a 40- to 50 cm piece of mutton cloth, fold it up in your hand so that you have a good grip on the cloth. Make sure that the par
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t you are going to rub against the wall forms a flat surface about the size of your open hand.
When you have the mutton cloth secure, take the 50mm paint brush and put two or so brushes full of paint onto the mutton cloth in your hand. This is to soak some glaze into the mutton cloth so t
hat it does not dry immediately when you start. Now start in a corner by rubbing the mutton cloth against the wall in smallish circular movements, spreading the glaze to the top and the sides. Make sure that you do not get glaze on the skirting and cornices.
As you continue, use your 50mm brush to apply streaks of paint onto the wall and immediately rub it off with the mutton cloth in circular movements. Stand back occasionally to make sure that you are not going lighter or darker as you go along.
It is very important that you do not stop for longer than a minute until you have finished an entire wall or section, otherwise you will get dry-lines where you stopped and started again as the glaze dried. It is very important for you to work from one point outwards. You cannot do one height i.e. your body height from the ground and then climb onto a ladder to finish the top, as this will also create a line between the bottom and the top.
Once you have finished the wall, take a clean, dry paint brush (the 75mm one), and lightly wipe it over the technique as if you are dusting the wall off. This will smooth any streaks that were caused by the mutton cloth.
Leave the room to dry for at least a day before moving your furniture in. Paint takes between one and two weeks to cure completely, and before the curing time is over, it is very vulnerable to dents and scratches. So take care to make sure that you do not damage the walls.
If this all sounds too difficult; give me a call.
This forms the end of the series of articles on painting and how to do a wash technique. Other articles that you can look out for include Suede Techniques; how to create features using Sandstone; how to become interesting with coloured cements; and furniture: what you need to know.
About the author: Michael Pretorius is an experienced interior designer and owner of Creative Touches interiors. For more information you can visit www.creativetouches.co.za or call him directly on 082-392-3336
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