Bunny DeLorie from Fe Fi Faux Finish designed and demonstrated how to make this sponged floor cloth.
Materials:
2' x 3' primed canvas floor cloth
Aleene's Premium Coat acrylic paints: yellow ochre, deep beige, ivory, dusty sage, rust, deep lavender, deep sage, deep mauve
Aleene's Satin Varnish
sea sponge
Miracle sponge
fine line artist brush
2" wide chip brushes
foam brushes
scissors
pencil
ruler
container of water
masking tape
paper towels
Steps:
1. Measure and lightly mark the border of the floor cloth five inches from the edge around all sides. Mask off with tape inside the pencil line (figure A).
2. Use a bristle brush to apply dusty sage and ivory paint around the border. Use a separate brush to blend and soften the colors (figure B). Remove tape and allow to dry.
3. Tape off inside area. Use a dampened sponge dipped in yellow ochre and ivory to dab color onto area. Blend paints with the clean side of the sponge, or use a separate clean sponge(figure C). Highlight the area with a little lavender (figure D). Remove tape and allow to dry.
4. Draw the pear, plum, grapes and leaves onto the Miracle sponge (figure E ). Cut out the shapes with scissors and drop the sponges into water to expand. Then remove them and squeeze out the water. Remember, the wet shape will be larger than the dry shape.
5. Apply paint to the sponge shapes either by foam brush or by dipping sponge directly into paint. Paint pear deep beige, ochre and sage. The plum should be rust and deep mauve, and leaves are a variety of greens, ochre and rust. The grapes are ochre and lavender. Always dab the painted sponge lightly onto a paper towel to remove any excess paint. Then gently press the sponge shape onto the painted floor cloth (figure F). Sometimes you can get two stampings out of one application of paint, especially with the grapes.
6. Clusters of grapes and leaves are stamped around border. When dry, use a liner brush dipped in green to make squiggly lines and curlicue vines to connect the grapevine (figure G).
7. When the floor cloth is dry, apply a coat or two of satin varnish with a clean cloth or foam brush. If desired, fold edges under one inch, miter the corners, and glue.
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