We’ve been doing a lot of work with silver leaf — silver leaf schaibin to be exact.  (Schaibin is irregular sheets of leaf that are primarily used for “broken leaf” effects.)  Next week, we tackle several ceilings with it as well as a few inset niches. Messy (size & flakes) but a whole lotta fun.  I’ve been seeing a lot of beautiful traditional silver leaf work as well. I thought I’d share a few to take us into the weekend…

 Always a thrill to see a silver leaf wall.  This one is designed by Lisa Ficarra.

Love the quiet elegance of this guestroom in a Pacific Heights Victorian – including the silver leaf ceiling. Designed by Claudia Juestel of the Adeeni Design Group.

I looooove silver leaf furniture.  (Especially when paired with mirrors. Serious love.)  It saddens me to see the scratches on this one but it is a pretty piece nonetheless.  It was featured by the Little Green Notebook blog.

Gracie is a studio that produces extraordinary wallcoverings. This one features a handpainted mural over silver leaf.

Here’s one by my company, Garay Artisans. The client and designer wanted imperfections on the layout, with the dark base showing through. I profiled this finish and others for a restaurant commission in Tallahassee, FL.

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I was asked recently why I normally prefer to use leaf in a technique over foils. There are advantages to both actually. There’s just no beating the look of leaf in any way and I like how it covers the surface as completely and opaquely as you’d like.  Foils, however, do save you in cost as well as mess – there’s simply no product to clean up after the transfer. It does take quite a bit to fully transfer the foil product and has much more elbow grease involved. Both are fantastic in their own right and perfect for their own finishes.  Do you prefer one over the other? Do tell.  Have a great weekend!

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About six years ago, I almost teamed up with two other artists to create a larger faux decorative company. That didn’t work out but one of the artists and I have kept in touch throughout the years.  Her name is Mary Childs, her company is named Focal Points and she is a fantastic artist — and not only do we crack each other up but we also understand each other well.  So, it was a pleasure to work with her during some recent projects.   For this one, I worked with designer Rey Hernandez of Leading Edge Builders.  The client gave us this image as a jumping off point…

Via Tuscan Style

It was for two groin ceilings and this dining room ceiling.

In the Dining Room, we decided to expand from just the oval center to the full ceiling.  Rey also wanted the crown molding to have a beautiful aged metallic to compliment the light fixtures.  My brother and business partner, Jason, helped me skim out the ceilings, plan the multiple colorations and plaster the first layers. Then, he hit the road for his vacation (wait until you see the pics he brought back from New England!) and Mary came in to finish collaborating on the project.

A few layers of metallic plaster.

I love decorative painting and am fascinated with the various methods one can use to transfer a design.  Some use stencils, some pounce in the design, others use Modellos and still others use carbon paper (homemade or commercial).  For this project, a projector was used.  Mary created and outlined the pattern.  I helped with the shadowing and Mary had great tips for me as I did so.  (I think she should teach more, she’s so great.)  I’ve sketched for years on art pads with pencil but have yet to take the plunge onto the wall.  Mary thinks I’d be a great muralist since I have “so much patience”.  We’ll see.  After creating the design, we glazed the interiors to darken them and add interest. Here’s the result…

Smaller Groin Ceiling

Dining Room and larger Groin Ceiling

Dining Room shot from underneath.

But Wait!

In the Dining Room, the metallic plaster was flashing near the center and although you couldn’t see it from all angles, it was very apparent coming in from the kitchen. My solution?  Trowel over that area with a smaller center oval and then fill it in with the decorative work and the same coloration as the oval perimeter.   We think it worked out well…

Dining Room: Re-mastered.

The Final Result.

Mary and I talked quite a bit about collaborations.  We ask each other questions frequently and she said that it’s incredible — here we are, two women who have quite a bit of experience and yet we ask each other about situations that we know the answers to but still like to hear the view of the other.  I think that’s what so important about having friends you trust in the business — they can be a great sounding board, talker-off-the-ledge and idea generator.  Sometimes you just want their genuine reaction when you walk into each other’s commisions and sometimes you know they’d be a great asset to your project.  Do you have local artists that you enjoy this type of relationship with?  Do tell.  See you tomorrow!

Hello, Gorgeous Ones!  Well yours truly is entering the fourth day in a 3-week hotel project — all during the graveyard shift (10pm – 6am).  I’ve had to switch around my sleeping/living patterns and it’s been a bit crazy!  Longest overnight project we’ve had was one week but I’m thinking next week gets easier as we settle in.  Let me know if you’ve tackled a long overnight project and if you have any great tips.  In the meantime, I’m sharing an archive blog post with you — in fact, we reference the project we are working on right now at the beginning of it.  This post has lovely column and wall finishes we encountered in a local beauty, The Peabody Hotel.  Take a gander while this Fauxologist catches some zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz….

Gorgeous Chocolate Venetian Plaster with Gold Metallic Overlay on Columns

I’ve been seeing a slew of stripes on ceilings lately. You?  First, I encountered one on Tobi Fairley’s blog when she did wide orange and white stripes for the Hampton Designer Showhouse.

Then I saw the beauty at the Avalon Hotel created by Kelly Wearstler.  She added a little interest with varying stripes.  Love…

Then this fresh version I spied in Florida Design magazine by designer Mac McGuinness.  I love how it really just opens up the space and how the wall color (or glaze?) does not match the yellow directly but compliments it.  It’s also a warm choice and flows with the flooring.  Beautiful.

Finally, a Chevron variation as seen in the Dreamsicle Day blog.

I know there’s quite a bit of work involved in creating stripes on a ceiling but I do love the end result.  What are your thoughts?

In a recent residential commission, our client happened to love strong colors, combinations and patterns.  She had very definite ideas as to what was the design of her home and it was quite a surprising change from the words “neutral” and “modern”.  Here’s the Dining Room in its Before state…

Before

Here is the After – the walls and ceilings were finished as well as a three panel mirror installed in the niche.

After

A close-up of the ceiling.  The center design was pre-existing and she wanted to use the colors in the mural as the inspiration for the room.  The copper area is aged copper schaibin and the smoother area is Venetian plaster with two metallic gels troweled over at the same time.  (Of course, the vents have to match, no?)

Here are the mirrors we installed and the variegated leaf we added using a Modello column design on both sides.  There is a close-up here.  The aged copper schaibin was also repeated around the mirror. We added more column height later as well as a framed mirror with a still life mural painted on it for the center panel — unfortunately, I have not gone back to take those final images.

Modellos were used in niches throughout the house but also in the entrance to the Master Bedroom.  The background on the walls is a strong red finish with an aged gold schaibin pattern.  The client spent quite a bit of time picking the colors and patterns all the while placing them exactly the way she wanted them.  She had so much fun doing so — her eyes lit up the moment she saw the large Modello catalog.

It was an enjoyable, quirky and colorful commission.  Another unique project we are starting soon is a rather large one at the Orlando International Airport.  If you are planning to fly in between the hours of 10 pm – 6 am, by all means come over to say Hi!  (And…if there a couple of wonky posts here and there, blame it on the hours, ok?) I hope to profile that soon for you.  Have a great day!

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Dana Tucker and I have been knee-deep in preparing for the IDAL convention and our class, Building Your Online Brand.  We’re SO excited to see fellow artists and also to teach the class together.  We sent out a survey to those who have registered to gauge what information they wanted most of and it was great to have that feedback readily available.  We don’t want anyone leaving without the information they need to have to enhance their business!  In fact, trying to pack all the information we can into two hours is the challenge!  We’re also planning a fun surprise for those who have signed up for the class.  You’ll see soon enough…

I've even been seeing IDAL in my dreams...

Speaking of social media,we had a great Twitter #DecArts chat last night!  It was more of a “cocktail party” where everyone could e-meet fellow tweeters, discover new blogs, see a few great links… It was truly heartwarming to see those who came by for a bit.  In fact, one of my co-hosts, Barbara Rocha of Paint a Lifestyle, wrote a great follow-up last night.  I think it was a promising start to the regular chats we’ll be having with great topics and special guests.  I’ll be sure to keep you posted.  BTW, Marketing and Social Media were two of the topics suggested for future chats.  We love all suggestions!  Of course, you are invited!

Next week we will have Column Week — I do hope you enjoy the five projects that are set to be profiled.  I’ll probably be giving updates on the IDAL  conference on Twitter and on the Fauxology Facebook Fan Page.  Are you going?  Look me up if you are!  Have a fantastic weekend, dear Readers!