Last post I shared different ways I like to use thicker than paint products. A favorite of mine is our Texture Plaster, a thick medium like smooth peanut butter, that we offered in BLACK and NEUTRAL . Earlier this month we added two new colors GREY GOOSE and BROWN BEAR–
I created play by play visuals to portray the colors for you. I basecoated one sample American Paint Company Dollar Bill, and the other Uncle Sam –
Once dry I positioned one of our newer stencil patterns, Florence Damask
I applied the Greygoose Plaster on the Uncle Sam and Brown Bear Plaster on the Dollar Bill. When I apply thicker dimensional products over a stencil, I typically use a lightweight plastic card – used gift cards work great – butter up one edge, and beginning at one side of the stencil glide your buttered edge over the pattern, keep your scraper more parallel to surface so your glide is soft, not choppy and cutting –
Scoop more plaster on the card edge and continue where you left off. Avoid going back and forth over the pattern as this most often causes the product to bleed underneath resulting in messy edges. I use my free hand to hold the stencil in place , stencil adhesive and tape are culprits for damaging your newer painted surface underneath.
Its your preference how thick or thin you want to apply your plaster, some areas can be thicker, some thinner. Leave the excess plaster ON the stencil surface, don’t try to scrape it off at this point, and once your whole design is covered grab both sides of the stencil and lift directly up
Be careful, your plaster design is wet and will take awhile to dry.
Lay the stencil on a flat surface – here I used the cardboard but my favorite is a sheet of plastic or a counter that can be cleaned. Using your same scraper, scrape harder and firmer now, across the design to retrieve the excess plaster. Save in your container for to reuse again. If you wait too long to clean it will be much harder to clean the stencil, and your product will get a little clumpy –
Once the product is retrieved, rinse the stencil with warm water, use a soft brush and mild cleaner to get the dried product off. Again, doing this sooner than later will extend the life of your stencils.
Now check out your raised stencil –
If you have any noticeable areas of bleed/product seep you can try to clean it up a bit – the end of a pencil (eraser) works good, as do mini flat screwdrivers, flat toothpicks etc – If I am applying thick products onto mirror/glass I typically let the design dry, then clean messy parts using a single razor blade. If my design is going to be embedded between paint layers then it isn’t as important to have it perfect, but I will remove really bad slops –
Wait until your design is completely dry before moving on. You can attempt to dry with forced heat, but realize you may cause the product to crack. As you can see in picture below, the design element pointing right was pretty thick, and isn’t completely dried on the inside. I can tell by pushing on it – if its dry it wont move
I decided to continue on anyway, so I could finish the demo. I got out both paint colors again
and brushed a thinner, watered down version of the paint OVER the whole design – this embeds the raised stencil between the paint
Avoid covering up the design with too thick of a paint layer. Doing so will cause you to REALLY have to do some heavier sanding to reveal your design –
also note you could brush your color over the design randomly, leaving some of the design showing – its all personal preference, and I encourage you to play and create many samples, so you can see what works (you like!) and what doesn’t (yuk) –
These are covered, 100% and drying. Won’t take but a couple minutes
Once the surface is dry you can reveal your design. If you hate sanding you can grab a damp rag and slowly wipe back your finish until you like what you see. If you use the damp rag method make sure your finish is good and dry, otherwise the paint can wipe off too easily
My preferred method is sand paper (or a mouse sander if your project is big) anywhere from 150-220 grit. I typically start with 180 grit, down to 150 if its not releasing fast enough 220 if I have a real sheer paint layer over top. IF these still aren’t working for you, go as low as 100 but sand slowly, back and forth
Besides revealing shadows of color underneath, sanding the natural chalk/clay of APC paint gives the finish a super soft feel. When Im satisfied, I’ll take a damp rag and wipe over my finish, to see my result and wipe more in areas that still need to pop –
When you like your result, you’ll want to seal that paint finish. For these samples I used APC’s all natural Antiquing Wax (clear) and tinted it with our Shimmer Silver Mica Powder.
The Shimmer Silver will add just a hint of grey color to my painted finish, and the light will reflect a shimmery metallic effect. The more you mix in the stronger your color and shimmer will be.
You can mix Mica Powder’s directly into the wax, no need to turn it into a sludge first
They say you can apply waxes with rags, sponges etc, I prefer using a soft brush
Work some into your brush then brush/scrub it on, making sure 100% of your paint finish is coated.
Below you can see the top 1/2 has wax applied. I don’t have it on too heavy – after it sits a minute or two the excess will have to be wiped off –
Top half of the Dollar Bill as well –
Store any extra tinted wax in a snap container and label, so you can use when you need that hint of shimmer silver again
Wiping the excess wax off, with a dry cloth -you dont have to wipe hard, just softly give the surface a wipe to remove that slippy feeling.
I give both samples a flash dry then a quick buff with a dry cloth
If you need some pretty allover or main element stencils, please check out our stencils for purchase.
We are running the gift bag special, with purchases of $110 (before tax/ship) you will receive a stencil, texture paint and base paint sample, brush and scraper.
Have a Blessed Holiday Weekend!
Happy painting!
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