Mural and Faux Finishes Questions and Answers

New Mural and Faux Finishes email question answered by THAT Painter Lady.

Hello, I want to thank you for your expertise on faux finishes. I loved
getting your emails. I would like to ask you a question if you don't
mind.

When colorwashing, or just using two glaze colors with sponging, my two colors blend together too much, making one color take over the other. It seems that no matter what I do, you cannot see both colors on the wall. I have to go extra steps, playing around too much to get the darker color to show through the lighter color, using much extra dark paint, sometimes leaving it too heavy looking.

I would love to accomplish the faded in and out look of two colors. Could you please tell me what I am doing wrong. On the wall, I used an antique base color and two different greens, two apart
on the color strip, but had to use a lot of extra darker green to
accomplish the look. I tried for that softer wash look, but the dark green just looked like the light green when trying to do this.

I hope I am not asking too much of you. Thank you so much.

SuzyQ

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First… This letter wasn't asking too much of me. I want to answer your email and help with all your faux painting questions.

Second… Here is my answer to blended faux painting techniques.

I think your problem is that you are using a lighter color "over" the
darker color.  I do this when I want to have a frosted look to my walls.

If you want to keep your walls blended and "darker" You should use only
the darker color.  When it is mixed with glaze and applied to the wall
it will naturally have darker (more pigmented) areas and lighter areas
without having to use two colors.

If the first layer of your color wash is tooo choppy… let dry 24 hours
and go over again with the exact same glaze.  This will give a deeper
richer blending of colors.

Using any paint colors that have too much white as the base will give a
faded muddy faux finish instead of deep rich colorations to the walls.

Hope this helps..

Debra
THAT Painter Lady
Mural and Faux Finishes Technique Questions Answered