Building My Studio: Part 8 (Painting)

From here on out, I don't have as many pictures of individual steps... It's pretty easy to set down the screwdriver and pick up the camera, but not quite so easy when you have paint all over.

For my main room and iso booth, I chose to do a venetian plaster finish. It adds a great deal of character to the room, and it's hard to really mess up. It was a lot of work though. The entire room was coated with a thin layer of a Tuscan-style orange, applied with a 4" puddy knife.

From day one, having a "vibe" in the room had been important, and the warm and bold color, combined with the beauty of a venetian plaster finish, seemed like a great way to create the vibe I wanted.

After the first coat had dried, a second coat was applied. Again, a puddy knife was used, but this time, a sharper angle was held on the blade in order to create a slightly different effect as the plaster went on. This adds depth and variety to the finish. It's hard to really tell from this photo though...

I could have considered this a complete finish at this point, but I still had a couple of tricks up my sleeve. To take this traditional, warm looking finish stand out and have a bit more modern feel to it, I applied a 3rd coat....this time, I used a metallic copper glaze. Then, I lightly burnished the finish by hand rubbing the entire wall with a smooth piece of metal. When done well, this can polish the finish to a glass or marble like quality. I opted for only a light burnish, which added some sheen to the walls without getting too crazy.

The result - a finish that has a lot of depth, and changes dramatically depending on how the light hits it and what angle you look at it.

It's hard to photograph, but here is a shot of one section of the wall. You just have to see this to really appreciate it. It's very very cool!