Category Archives: Faux wood Grain how-to

Posted in Decorative Painting Business • Faux Finishing and decorative painting samples • Faux Finishing Business • Faux Wood Grain business and marketing • Faux wood Grain how-to • Featured Faux Finishes

Faux Finishing Business Success: Part 2 of 4

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Part one is here. It’s all about understanding the costs of running a faux finishing business, and getting paid for your efforts. 

A quality portfolio of samples for faux finishing business success

4 color glaze sample panel for faux finish business success

A four color glaze sample measuring 32″ square. A consistent money maker, my portfolio includes three different color and intensity variations of this finish.

A Faux Finish Sample Panel is a physical, painted example of a decorative finish meant to display your work to potential clients, usually applied to rigid material. 

Your sample panels will be among your most powerful marketing tools.

In fact, they can be the deciding factor in landing the most profitable jobs.

Physical panels, vs digital or printed, are the true face of your business. 

This is not to say that your physical samples won’t end up on your web site, they likely will… but I’m getting ahead of myself. I’ll write about building a web presence later. 

A matter of size

Ever bought a gallon (or five!) of fresh paint based on a small color chip, only to find it too bright (dull, dark, shiny, intense…) after rolling it on the wall?

Why does this happen? Because the human eye needs to see a color over an area of at least 3 square feet before its impact can be felt. Paint company color samples are too small to achieve this. read more

Posted in Faux wood grain for cars • Faux wood Grain how-to • Faux Wood Grain Technique • Faux Wood Paint • Faux Wood Paint Colors • Faux Wood Paint Restoration • Images of painted faux wood grain • wood grain paint

Faux Wood Car Paint Project: 1931 Buick

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Partial Faux Wood Trim Restoration

The owner wanted to minimize changes to the original interior.  He removed the 5 pieces that were most damaged. Of course my advice was to do them all at once.

After my work was done and installed, I was fortunate to have full access to the car for shooting pictures. This car is so gorgeous that I decided to create a larger pictorial blog post. 

I shot video and images of the graining process for this project and added it to The Perfect Wood Grain Car Graining Course. 

Bill, a retired architect, bought this gem in 1989 in all original condition. He painted and re-chromed, had a new top installed and made other needed repairs, but mostly left it alone. For example, the upholstery is all original. 

1931 Buick Hood Ornament, Grill, Headlights, Radiator

The owner of the media blasting shop I use was concerned that his process might damage the old, thin metal. 

A low pressure sand blaster was used instead. This got the job done and gave us the light texture we needed for maximum primer adhesion. 

I followed my standard process of creating a sample panel with 4 variations on the original grain for the customer to choose from. Faux wood car paint project sample panel and trim

Base Coat Alternative

For the base coat, I used a spray can product called Montana Gold. Formulated for murals, this product offers a much wider range of colors than paint or hardware shops, and they had a nearly perfect match for this project.

I normally use and recommend 2 stage auto paint for any car color and clear coats because interior parts like dash boards are exposed to direct sunlight and high temps.   Click Here to Continue…

Posted in Decorative Painting Business • Faux Finishing Business • Faux wood grain furniture: Decoration and repair • Faux wood Grain how-to • Faux Wood Paint Colors • Faux Wood Paint Restoration • Images of painted faux wood grain

Cash Register Faux Wood Paint Restoration

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A Gift for Dad

National Cash Register Model 711

The NCR Model 711 before disassembly. A bit rough, to say the least.

In December, 2015 I was contacted by a fellow who’s restoring a 1920, model 711, single counter NCR Cash Register. 

There are many old mechanical cash registers in circulation. National Cash Register was a major manufacturer, and they decorated many steel machines (vs brass) in a Mahogany-like faux grain.

Due to heavy use, these machines tend to end up quite worn and in poor condition. 

The customer was restoring the register as a gift for his father. He found my site via Google and contacted me through my “services” page. He’s also working with a specialist to restore and assemble the mechanical aspects. 

Cost of Restoring an Antique NCR Cash Register

In calculating a bid for this cash register faux wood project, my first instinct was to search for values on line (antique dealers, auction sites, ebay…), I found present value to be below $300 for similar machines. 

I don’t know what the cost of the mechanical work would be, but I’m guessing it’s not inexpensive.

A project like this, due to several small parts, some with multiple sides/angles of view, takes about the same amount of time as a full dash and escutcheon set for an antique car.

I was once asked to grain a plastic Jaguar shift knob. Small projects like that don’t usually work out due to the realities of time and effort: Create a sample for the customers approval, prep the plastic, apply primer, base coat, plus multiple layers of grain technique and clear coats. And by the way, real and faux wood shift knobs are available for most cars, often under $100. 

Point is, on some projects, unless it results in a substantial increase in value of the object being grained, my minimum fees are often too high. 

All That Glitters (some business talk)

I decided to reduce my fees for this project. Here’s why…
Please click here to read more…

Posted in Faux wood Grain how-to • Faux Wood Grain Technique • Images of painted faux wood grain • Perfect Wood Grain Mastery Course eBook • wood grain paint

iPad Case Faux Wood Paint Tutorial

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Stylish iPad Protection Meets Original Faux Wood Art

My Faux Painted Antique Brown Oak iPad Mini case. Need a FREE Graining Tutorial? See below for details. 

My Faux Painted Antique Brown Oak iPad Mini case. Need a FREE Graining Tutorial? See below for details. 

Several of my friends and family have iPads and Android tablets. Many of them protect their devices with cases that are very expensive. I’ve seen leather, bamboo, carbon fiber, aluminum and just about every other substance. 

But many pad computer cases are constructed of simple, inexpensive, hard plastic.

It turns out that hard plastic is one of the best materials for pad and phone cases because the rigid construction distributes force of impact over the widest possible area, which minimizes damage to the device when dropped. 

While I’ve considered graining all sorts of things over the years, I must give credit to one of my students, Adam B. for this innovative case graining idea. 

painted faux oak grained iphone cases

Iphone cases grained in Oak by Faux Wood Workshop student Adam B.

Faux painted oak woodgrained iphone case

Adam applied techniques taught in the Figured Oak section of  The Faux Wood Workshop. He made the grain small and tight in keeping with the size of the iPhone case.

Click to Read the Rest of the Post

Posted in Faux wood Grain how-to • Faux Wood Grain Technique • Faux Wood Paint Colors • Featured Faux Finishes • Painted wood grain method details • Perfect Wood Grain Mastery Course eBook • wood grain paint

Free Faux Maple Grain Tutorial with Lapis Lazuli Inlay

The following is an excerpt from the Free Faux Maple Grain Tutorial with Lapis Lazuli Inlay eBook.

Get your copy of the eBook. Details at the bottom of this post. 

Faux Maple Wood Grain Gift Box

“Introduction 

Why “D.E.P.”?
Greetings, and thanks for joining me for this tutorial.

I love transforming ordinary, everyday items into something beautiful and, with some planning and luck, maybe even extraordinary.

I was inspired to do this box when I realized that my mother (her initials are D.E.P.) needed a pencil box to reduce clutter on her desk… Click to Get the free ebook