Faux wall painting technique is a very old form of painting that was used to adorn and decorate the walls of houses, museums and palaces. The current generation has come up with variations in the same traditional painting technique to enhance living space and add beauty to the interior. Faux finishing is a method of wall painting used to create the delusion of texture on a wall.
It uses simple tools like sponges and rags to produce amazing effects. It's suitable for drywall, plaster or wood, and requires not much preparation for painting.
After deciding to go for faux painting, decide the medium of painting, whether oil based or water based. There are numerous finishes that can be fashioned using either of the two mediums. Most often oil based paints and glazes are manipulated to create faux finishes. Oils have a longer drying time and hence more time is required by the faux painter to manipulate the finish.
Water based medium can be used only on well varnished walls or the walls that require fast building of layers. Some faux finishes such as verdigris require a mixed medium.
You can also go for glazes because glazes are much easier to manipulate and permit gradual build up of colors. Range of these glazes help in creating great depth and dimension. Glazes are an indispensable component of faux painting.
The primary ingredient is proprietary scumble glaze, a transparent medium that functions to increase the drying time and thus retain marks you make to a surface. When working with glazes, it is very important to maintain a wet edge.
Most of the scumble glazes are mixed in a proportion of 50-50 with turpentine. Color is then added to the glaze without affecting the clear consistency of the glaze. This glazed color helps in achieving the perfect wall design.