Everything You Need for Faux Finishing

Faux finishing isn’t just any regular paint job, and there are lots of special materials and supplies you’ll need to create the look you want to achieve. For instance, if you’re going to create a wall that looks like stone, it’s not enough to throw on a coat of gray paint and call it a day. Instead, you need unique materials to create the right texture, the right tools to apply your materials like trowels and brushes, and specific paints and additives to help you mimic the look and ambiance of real stone.

Beyond this example, there are hundreds of other faux painting techniques you can use to replicate just about any surface or material. Faux Masters Studio has all the products, supplies, materials, and accessories you might need to execute a faux painting project at home or the office or to transform a piece of artwork or furniture.

All the Painting Supplies You Need to Start and Complete Every Project

Any faux painting project requires many different products, and these can include basecoats, additives, pigments and colorants, and finishing coats. While not every project will require all these products, some are usually necessary (such as basecoats), and there are many unique effects you can create by using additives and colorants in conjunction with your other materials. Here’s some more information about these different paint products:

Basecoats

After sanding and cleaning, basecoats are the first real step in any regular or faux painting project. When you apply a basecoat, you not only ensure that the surface is sealed and ready to receive plaster, but also that you have the perfect canvas for creating new textures and vibrant colors. It also guarantees your paint job will last as long as possible. There are a variety of basecoats available, including texturizing basecoats, metallic ones, and basic primer. Setcoat is always the best choice.

Colorants and Pigments

Colorants and pigments can be added to basecoats, paint, and even some finishing coats to give your projects a dynamic look. Not only can these products allow you to completely change the appearance of your walls, cabinets, furniture, and art pieces, but they also let you create customized colors and patterns that will be entirely unique for your project. Faux Masters Studio carries colorants and pigments in all the colors of the rainbow and beyond, including the regular dyes, metallic pigments, and even highlighting colors. FauxCrème Colors are the customer favorite for custom tinting.

Additives

Additives such as solvents and extending products are great because when you add them to other painting materials, it can help you achieve the consistency you need, and give you more time to work with your materials. We also carry color activators you can add to paints to create dramatic effects and vibrant colors. AquaExtender is an excellent choice for giving your material more working time.

Clear Finish Coats

Clear finish coats are the ideal way to finish any faux painting project because these top coats will provide a protective layer that will seal your hard work and make it more resilient to time, wear, and the elements.

Clear topcoats in the Faux Masters Studio product line include:

  • Color sealants
  • UV protectants
  • Urethane
  • Finishing paste
  • Varnish
  • Finishing waxes
  • Polishing compound

Products and Materials to Help You Achieve Any Effect

Faux painting often requires more than just basecoats, colors, and other additives, and you usually need special materials to help you achieve certain textures, effects, patterns, and decorative elements.

Once again, Faux Masters Studio carries all of these products, including:

Crackle: Crackle mediums are ideal for creating crackling, aged, weathered, and antique looks on a variety of surfaces. We carry crackle medium, which are basecoats specifically formulated for crackle jobs, and metallic, porcelain, and textured crackle products.

Foils, leafing, and metallics: Faux metal finishes are popular for many surfaces, and along with carrying a wide selection of metallic coating products, we also have foils and leafing in multiple colors for decorative metal accents.

Glazes: Glazes are great for any surface because they can improve the hue, appearance, and texture of the medium you’re working with. Glazes are used in the creation of many faux effects and can help you make a surface look like anything from sand to linen to metal. FauxCrème is still the #1 seller.

Oxidizing finishes: Rust and oxidation on metal may be destructive, but it’s also beautiful, and oxidizing finishes can help you achieve the look of rust and verdigris on any surface, without any of the actual corrosion. Our Verdigris Kit has everything you need to create the perfect patina effect.

Plasters and texturizing materials: Plaster is a great way to get the perfect texture or pattern that you’re looking for when you want to create a faux finish. For instance, you can use special plasters to help you make a surface resemble stone, metal, textiles, and more.

And we don’t just have a single type of plaster, but rather a great selection of acrylic-, mineral-, and even metallic-based plasters. Beyond that, we also carry texturizing materials that are specially formulated to help you achieve a variety of effects, including sand, plaster, fresco, and beyond.

Tools and Brushes for Perfect Application

Faux Masters Studio is a one-stop shop for all your faux finishing needs, which means that along with carrying paints and materials, we also have all the tools and supplies you’ll need to get a job done right and with less effort.

For example, we carry a wide variety of brushes in various materials, including badger hair, camel hair, and polyester nylon. Moreover, we have brushes in all shapes and sizes to help you achieve multiple effects, including glazing brushes, multipurpose brushes, and specialized brushes for different textures and techniques. For instance, the flogging brush is ideal for wood graining, small nylon brushes are perfect for touch-ups and detail work, and we even have a brush called Neon Leon that’s perfect for stippling.

Brushes, however, aren’t the only great painting supplies we carry, and we have a full selection of tools and accessories to make your mission as easy as possible. For example, we have trowels in different materials, shapes, and sizes, because trowels are an essential tool for applying plaster.

A few of the specialized trowels in the product line include pointed ones for corners, domed ones for arches, and square ones for burnishing. Other tools you’ll find in our store include:

  • Putty knives for applying spackle, paint, and more
  • Sponges and sponge rollers for specialized sponge effects
  • Roller frames
  • Burnishing blades to help you polish your plaster finishes
  • A brush cleaner to help you keep your brushes in pristine condition
  • A paint mixer to ensure proper color accuracy every time
  • Sample boards where you experiment around with different textures, colors, and materials
  • Cheesecloth you can use to create many painting effects and textures
  • Masking tape to create design patterns

We Even Teach Classes to Help You Learn All the Different Techniques

Faux Masters Studio isn’t just a painting supply store, and we also teach faux painting techniques through our classes and workshops in our Orange County, California studio. We hold several different courses that can help you learn about everything from color theory to furniture and cabinetry painting, as well as classes where you can learn basic and advanced techniques for creating a variety of different faux finishes.

Here at Faux Masters Studio, we take pride in being a one-stop emporium for all the tools, supplies, materials, and resources you could need to start and complete a faux painting project. There are hundreds of different faux finishes you can create with the right tools and materials, including wood grain, stone, metal, and plaster, and that’s just to name a few. When you have the proper techniques and tools, you can transform your entire home, redecorate a room, give new life to furniture, and even create unique and beautiful works of art.

Moreover, many of the products we carry here at Faux Masters Studio are highly versatile and can be applied to a wide range of surfaces, including drywall, wood, stone, and metal. No matter what faux effect you want to create and on what surface, Faux Masters Studio has the tools and materials you’ll need to complete the job, and we even have courses that are taken by beginners and professionals alike to learn new tips, tricks, and techniques.

3 Comments

  1. Carol Ann LaCourse says:

    looking for a ‘open-time’ glaze for faux finishes and stenciling in general…which of your products would you recommend?

    • Faux Masters says:

      Hi Carol,

      The glaze with the longest open time we recommend is FauxCrème®. This translucent glaze is slow drying, easily manipulated and far more controllable than any oil glaze, yet still imparts an impressive sense of realism to the finish. Two quick points of reference to keep in mind:

      • The more pigment (color) that is added to the glaze, the quicker the drying process will go.
      • The harder/tighter the surface is, the longer the open time will be. EX: working on a piece of glass will have one of the longest open times possible where working on raw wood will have a significantly shorter open time as the “open” surface will soak up the material and therefore open time is significantly shortened.
  2. Josie Kennedy says:

    I just silver leafed a powder room ceiling and small bar ceiling.This was my first time leafing a ceiling.I did not use real leaf.I am very pleased with outcome.I am wondering what I should charge client?

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