Decorative painter Marie McGehee adds a beautiful faux burled maple finish to a plain room screen.
Materials:
a traditional latex yellow paint color
oil wood stain, Butcher Block color, available at most home supply and paint stores
natural sea sponges
turpentine
soft, cotton cheesecloth
small round artists brush
artists lining brush
oil wood stain, Old Maple color, available at most home supply and paint stores
mineral spirits
fine sandpaper
oil-based clear varnish
3" brush
object on which to create finish: an unpainted wooden room screen, wood molding for a room, a lampshade, any piece of furniture
Steps:
- Clean surface to be painted. Wipe off any dust. If previously painted or finished you will want to lightly sand and dust.
- Paint two coats of the traditional yellow color you have chosen over the surface. Let dry well between paint layers. Allow to dry completely overnight.
- Do not mix up the Butcher Block wood stain before using. Open the can of stain and pour off the oil on top. Discard.
- Add turpentine to this until it is a milky consistency creating a glazing liquid.
- Dip the tips of one of the sea sponges in the stain, wipe off any excess on newspapers or brown craft paper before using. You do not want blobs of paint on the sponge.
- Dab this sponge with stain over the entire painted surface, creating a paw pattern overall (figure A).
- Now pat over entire surface with a piece of wadded up cheesecloth. This softens the dabs.
- Now tip the tip of the round artists brush in the same stain and make dots in clusters of two or three all over the painted surface.
- Using your lining brush, create well-controlled painted shadows around the dots and dabs, with the same stain (figure B). Let dry. This will create faux knotholes.
- Dip the same lining brush back in the stain and connect the groups of dots using light, curly, squiggly strokes (figure C). Imagine a map with rivers in it. Create this kind of undulating mark.
- Now repeat this light river-like marking, following the first set of lines as a guide (figure D). Completely cover surface to be finished.
- While this still wet, dab over the entire piece with cheesecloth. Let dry completely.
- Mix the Old Maple stain well and thin down with mineral spirits to a transparent, glaze consistency.
- Coat surface overall with this glaze using a three-inch brush. This coat tones and softens the surface, meshing it all together to create the burled maple look. Let dry a few days.
- Follow with two to three coats of clear, oil-based varnish. Lightly sand between each coat.
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