The difference a day can make

[hkcreations.livejournal.com]

Just a quick example of the difference a faux finish can make.

Using a cast cement lion gargoyle head



Not that it was bad before, but it was a little less, dramatic, than I thought it should be.

I hit it with a coat of Killz primer then hit it with some craft paints.

I originally tried painting it purple with a faux gold leaf in a green metallic applied with a crumpled plastic bag.
It was super awful looking. It had too many nooks, crannies, and bumps for the metallic to make it look anything other than 'Fuh.'

So I hit it with some metallic 'espresso' craft paint. Then I applied a mix of turquoise and army green craft paints, quickly wiping the majority of it back off with a damp paper towel. Leaving the green in the crannies just like you would find on a regular bronze piece.

The green didn't wipe off as clean as I would have liked. So I went back over the high flat areas again with a dampened paper towel with more of the espresso.

Then I mixed a bit of gold with the espresso to make a slightly lighter color for the major 'high' points on the lion that would normally get lighter from being rubbed more often, again, like a regular bronze piece.

I then coated it all in a satin poly varnish.

If I do this treatment again I may leave the green patina for after the satin as it dries more matte than the varnish did. But I still think it looks pretty good considering how it's actually concrete under there.