Create A Faux-Bark Finish Using Wood Icing Products!

Posted by Debbie Dion Hayes on MyPatchOfBlueSky.com on September 2, 2014

 

{Although this post is sponsored by Wood Icing™, the idea and comments are my own.}



I think my mind is on fall. Just a few leaves drop and crunch underfoot but I am so ready for fall colors, boots and campfires with my family.

With that in mind, I have been playing with – I swear I am not crazy – fallen branches from our back yard. While picking them up the other day I was struck by the wonderful texture and earth tones. And by the idea of trying to duplicate the look with Wood Icing™ products.

I am so excited about this finish that I came up with – you can hardly tell it apart from the real branch, and I swear I did not really work at it. Here, I just created it on a piece of black polystyrene since I was in design mode. But picture a huge canvas or a focus wall, or drawer fronts on a rustic furniture piece!

Want to try it?

SUPPLIES

 

• tree branch at least 3″ diameter
• Wood Icing™ Textura Paste, Licorice, Tree Bark(!) and Mud Pie Furniture Glazing colors
• Paris Grey Chalk Paint® by Annie Sloan
• rags, spray bottle, paint brushes, putty knife or some kind of spreader

STEP ONE
Find a branch and cut it or break it to about two feet long to make it easy to handle. Mine was pretty dead. Basecoat your surface with one or two coats of Chalk Paint® and let dry.

STEP TWO

 
Spread a coat of Textura Paste on the surface, skipping a few areas. Do not let dry. Using the branch, roll it over the surface and drag it up and down to make texture. Mine left some bits on the surface and, loving it, I left them in. The Paste layer will tear and get crusty, which is a good thing. Let dry completely.

STEP THREE
 
Brush on one layer of Paris Grey, leaving a few areas open and let dry.

STEP FOUR
 

STEP FIVE
 

 
Brush on one coat of the Mud Pie glaze and let dry a bit, then brush on a coat of Tree Bark and let dry a bit. Brush on a random layer of Licorice, scrubbing it into the cracks. Use a mist of water from the spray bottle if you like. While wet, drag a dry rag vertically over the surface until you like the look. This will pull color off the tops of the texture. Let dry.

And you have faux bark – made with Wood Icing™ – how cool is that?

 

You’ll notice I did not seal it. If you are doing this on a wall or a piece of furniture, I suggest Wood Icing™ Dull Poly Acrylic Top Coat. For art hanging on the wall, I would not seal it.

{Disclosure: This is a paid featured post in conjunction with Wood Icing™. All opinions, projects, and ideas are based on my own experience.}

Ikea Hack Bowl Using Wood Icing® + Tape

Sharing another post from Debbie Dion Hayes of MyPatchOfBlueSky.com

{Although this post is sponsored by Wood Icing™, the idea and comments are my own.}



This is a post about an Ikea bowl and a roll of thin tape that have lived in my trove of goodies waiting for
hackinginspiration. The bowl is destined to hold some of my favorite things – yes, simple pine cones from my mother-in-law’s back yard. And tiny books I inherited from my French Canadian grandfather. Around our home, bowls are meant for filling with treasures!




Do you love it? Are you dying to get into some Wood Icing™ products like me? So fun and simple.
SUPPLIES
• From WoodIcing.com or local retailers: Textura Paste, Furniture Glazing Color in Tomato and Tree Bark, Poly Acrylic Top Coat Dull, off-set knife, Emperor’s Silk Chalk Paint® by Annie Sloan
• Paint brushes, rags, thin painter’s tape, 220-grit sandpaper, stir sticks



STEP ONE
Paint the bowl completely using two coats of Emperor’s Silk Chalk Paint® and let dry.
STEP TWO
Creatively add tape to the surface in any design that you like. Burnish the tape down well. Be sure to add about 2″ to turn under on the ends. They will help to peel the tape off later.
STEP THREE
Using the off-set knife, “butter” the Textura Paste onto the surface. It’s just like frosting a cake! Let dry until the paste is slightly damp, then peel off the tape. Let dry overnight.



STEP FOUR
Sand lightly.
STEP FIVE
Brush on Tomato Glazing color. I use three coats, letting dry in between. It dries quickly. Four the fourth coat, I added one coat of Tree Bark as a toner. Let dry completely.
Done!
CARE INSTRUCTIONS
Wood Icing™ products can be used for furniture, crafts, cabinets and walls. They are non-toxic and can be wiped lightly with a damp cloth. Do not use a project like this with food.



 



Have you been inspired to play with Wood Icing™? Let us hear from you!

{Disclosure: This is a paid featured post in conjunction with Wood Icing™. All opinions, projects, and ideas are based on my own experience.}

Lingerie Closet

I found this amazing lingerie closet in a little resale shop just a mile from my house.  I have never seen a piece shaped like this one.  I knew I had to have it and I knew whatever Wood Icing™ finish I used on it would have to be worthy of this exceptional piece.  Therefore it sat around in the studio quite sometime before I could get the nerve to touch it,  There was lots of anticipation as to what I was going to do  from customers and students visiting the store. Thanks to some of my very talented friends making a few suggestions, I worked up the nerve to get started on it.  My friend Kathy Otto loaned me her gorgeous custom stencil and my friends Tim Glasteter and Mark Tillman offered the suggestion on the partial use of the stencil and the placement of it. 

I could swear I took a before photo of this but I cannot seem to locate it in any of my files. So what you see here is the beginning of the application of Wood Icing™ troweled through a stencil. I broke out the stencil and only used portions of it to embellish particular areas.  I used the basket of flowers across the two drawers on the bottom, then used the scrolls on the top half of the door. On the sides you are looking a raised relief with the use of lace.

The sides and inside drawer fronts just screamed for a lace design to accentuate the lovely curves.  A stencil would have been extremely difficult to execute inside these inset areas.  I could choose to spread the Textura Paste on first, then press the lace in or I could lay the lace down then trowel the Textura Paste over the top of the lace, then pull the lace out.  Since I wanted a really high relief I chose to lay the lace down then trowel the paste over the top of the lace.  I pull the lace off right away. 

Here is a little photo demo on how this is done.  (this is not the lingerie closet in the demo but another project done with the same technique,)  

1. Paint with any brand of flat or semi flat paint with good bonding 

qualities or prep with a bonding primer before painting.

2. Lay down lace

3 Trowel Textura Paste over the top.

4 Remove the lace immediately. While the paste is still wet..

This is where I will admit I had a mini breakdown while trying to attempt to apply the lace on this vertical surface. So, I will share with you what I learned from that experience.  I tacked three or four small brads inside the top of the panel.   I then hung the lace on these brads so the lace would be held in place for me while I did my magic with the Textura Paste and lace.  Normally this technique works like a charm. ..read further

Unfortunately, it did not this time.  I would spread the paste on then pull it off and big chunks of the paste would come off with the lace,.  I think I did this about four times before realizing that the problem was, the surface is too slick to hang onto the paste.  So I started over again.  But first I applied a coat of a soft warm white flat or semi paint. which has the perfect texture to allow the Textura Paste to grab onto the surface and I never worry about failure.  Some paints have too slick of a finish that causes the paste to slide during application so look for a good bonding flat to semi flat paint. Ideally, it would be best to apply a bonding primer before the flat or semi flat paint.

Once I crossed that hurtle I was on my way to finishing this project.  Unfortunately, I never have more than and hour here and there to work on something like this, so it sat around partially done for quite some time.  I think I got on a few peoples last nerve for taking so long on this one.

I chose to paint it with the color "CoCo" color and embellish the raised reliefs with "Light Blue" paint. It is breath taking.  I know these photos do not show just how beautiful this piece really is, but I love this piece so much that I may just have to keep it for myself.  Maybe someday I will get some professional photos done of it so I can share the real beauty of it with you.