decorative rollers

Hammered Metal Drawers – Hometalk Live Demo!

November 16, 2017 By Jennifer Leave a Comment

So here is the picture of the Hutch that I’m working on – this is the before picture. The drawers were never painted, but someone has a love with “Pledge” and I felt it was best to sand it all off – paint and all!!!

Here are my drawers all nice and sanded – ready for a fabulous Hammered Metal Finish!!!

So let’s get started with my favorite primer XIM Bonding Primer – one layer should do the job and then allow to dry.

Next, I taped off the center raised panel and was ready for the next step. I applied a thin layer of my ArtsSyVille Embellishments Texture Medium – you only need it to be about 1/8″ to 1/16″ thick – just enough to get the print of the roller. I used a trowel to apply the medium, but you can use a hotel room key, styrene applicator, putty knife, or anything that you can get the product onto the surface.

While the Texture Medium is wet – you need to roll through it with the Fauxy Roller Ostrich Pattern. I rolled through twice to get a pitted/hammered metal look – allow the texture to dry (this can take several hours – but make sure it is completely dry).

Once the texture has dried – you will want to sand down the high peaks – I used 150 grit sandpaper. Remove the tape and clean up the edges if necessary. Wipe down to remove all the dust and make sure the surface is clean.

The next step is to paint the surface with Modern Masters Antique Copper Metallic Paint – I applied two layers allowing each layer to dry in between. Metallics can be a little soft – so it’s best to allow the paint to dry overnight before applying the glaze layer.

Next we are going to create a glaze – I used Modern Masters Wall Glaze and Modern Masters Glazing Colors Van Dyke Brown. My favorite recipe is 1 cup of glaze to 3 tbls of Van Dyke Brown – this creates a nice balanced glaze.

Apply the glaze over the painted surface – 100% coverage and then use Cheesecloth to remove the excess glaze leaving behind enough to get into the details of the wood and texture. You can remove as much of the glaze as you would like or leave as much behind – it’s a personal thing.

Allow the glaze to dry overnight (at least) glaze can take a good 24 hours to dry completely. Then make sure to apply at least several layers of Top Coat to protect the finish.

Supplies used for this project:

XIM Bonding Primer (Buy Here)

ArtsSyVille Embellishments – Texture Medium

Fauxy Rollers – Ostrich Skin Roller

Sandpaper 150 to 220 grit

Modern Masters Metallic Paint – Antique Copper

Modern Masters Wall Glaze

Modern Masters Glazing Colors – Van Dyke Brown

Cheesecloth

Application tool – Trowel, room key, putty knife, etc.

Top coat of your choice

Hope that you enjoyed this project!

Blessings,

Decorative Signs: Stenciling Techniques

October 27, 2017 By Jennifer 3 Comments

Some of the decorative signs I started painting with dry brushing techniques and stamping rollers in the previous post are ready for stenciling! I am going to do two different techniques, a dry brush stencil and a foil transfer. See the previous posts in this series: Base Coats and Adding Texture.

On two signs I’m going to dry brush stencil the words “Love” and “Faith.”

You will need:
Word Stencils (Stencil Garden #877)
Stencil Brushes
Paint
Tape
Rulers

Dry Brush Technique:
Start by centering your stencil on your work. Using two quilters rulers which are see-through, one on each side, can help center the stencil easily by allowing you to just move the stencil until the distance from each side is the same. Once you’re happy with the centering left and right, center from top to bottom and then tape down the stencil.

Wet your stencil brush with paint, then swirl on to a foam plate or palette, then dry it again on paper towel. It might seem like you’re taking all the paint off the brush, but this is what you want to keep the sharp lines of your stencil. Use this dry brush to stipple or pounce the color into the void of your stencil. Stencil brushes are round with a blunt cut and have stiff bristles which is necessary for traditional stenciling technique.

You can choose to pounce on the color or swirl it on, but a light color over dark surface will work better with the pounce instead of swirl. You can check on your coverage by lifting up a corner of the stencil, making sure to hold the stencil in place with one hand. Chalk paints will dry lighter, so keep that in mind, but also you can’t keep going back over it or you’ll start to remove some of the paint. You will need to let it dry before doing a second coat.

I used Modern Masters Silver Metallic Paint for the word Faith. I used the same technique as with the word Love, putting a bit of paint on my plate and swirling it into the brush and then wiping it on a paper towel before pouncing it into the stencil areas.

Now these signs just need some time to dry, then I’ll put on a finish coat to protect my work.

On a third sign I’m going to put the word “Hope” on it with decorative foil. Hope is always something good to have! This board was first finished with a diamond pattern and stamping roller which creates a really great textured background.

You will need:
Stencils (Stencil Garden #877)
Foil Adhesive
Foil
Stencil Brush
Scissors

Tip: My ArtsSyVille Foil Adhesive is simple to clean up, water soluble. Your stencil will get some adhesive on it during this process, but it will wash off easily.

Start by centering your stencil and taping it down. Using the foil adhesive and a stencil brush, pounce on the adhesive through the stencil. Keep the brush rather dry so the adhesive will not bleed under the stencil. Stipple the foil adhesive over the stencil twice to make sure it has good coverage.

The foil adhesive will wash off with water, don’t worry that you’re ruining your stencil!

Remove stencil carefully, and give the adhesive time to dry. Don’t rush to transfer. With the foil adhesive you aren’t limited to a window of time. You can leave it for days and even weeks before transferring the foil!

Once your adhesive has had enough time to dry, use scissors to cut your foil to size. With the metallization on the back, lay the foil over your project. Using a soft cloth, rub the foil and then pull back just a part to take a peek at your work.

If you want to transfer a lot of foil, use a scrubber brush. You can control how much foil is transferred by varying the pressure you use on the brush. Once you’re happy with the amount of transfer, peel off the film. Top coats are a must when foils have been used to protect the finish and cover any adhesive that hasn’t adhered to foil.

I hope you have enjoyed this series of projects! As always, we love to see what you’ve made with metallic foils and stamping rollers!

Decorative Signs Project Series:
1. Base Coats
2. Adding Texture
3. Stenciling Techniques

More Tips & Tricks for using Decorative Art Rollers…

January 17, 2016 By Jennifer 4 Comments

The love and popularity of Decorative Rollers continues to grow as more people discover this wonderful tool. So, I’m here once again to share more of my Tips & Tricks for using these rollers and making your projects easy and fun! In my collection of Decorative Art Rollers I have 30 patterns to choose from, so this is your first task – trying to figure out which roller you want to play with…..For some people this is one of the hardest things, deciding which pattern to buy!!! But once you have that roller in hand, you need to know how to use it.

I have created several YouTube videos which can be found on my channel – Artistic Painting Studio YouTube – watch all three videos and see how easy it is to use these rollers – each video shows a little different technique.

The easiest technique for using the Rollers is a “negative” technique. Let me explain what I mean – these rollers are designed to make an “impression” into some wet material. Like in the videos – I demonstrate applying a texture medium or glaze for you to roll into/through – this gives you a negative impression of the pattern.

July 10 029 — Hand brush glaze in a vertical/horizontal Stria and then rolled Artsy Leaf Decorative Art Roller.

Glaze is the easiest medium to work with when you are getting started – this medium stays wet for a long time and will allow you to apply the glaze and have plenty of time to roll through the wet glaze. I like to let the glaze to “set-up” for a few minutes after applying to the surface – otherwise you might slide in the glaze. Also, make sure that your roller head is spinning freely on the handle – if not “lube” the bar with a little Pam Cooking Spray – this works great!

Here are a few projects that have been created with the rollers by customers and students – the medium that has been rolled through is a colored Glaze.

Created by Karen Gideon of Junque in my Trunk – using the Crocodile Roller

My favorite medium to roll through is my Texture Medium by ArtsSyVille Embellishments – I have worked hard on creating a texture medium that is easy to roll through! One thing that is really important when rolling through a applied texture, is to keep the application “thin” – I always say to my students “Thin Wins”!!! If you have applied the texture to thick on the surface it just clogs up the roller and you will have to wash it more often……and that’s not any fun!

As shown in the videos – I like to “trowel” on my products – but, the trowel has become one with my hand! I know I make it look so easy and it is for me……but that took some work – I have been using a trowel for at least 25 years – so it should be easy for me!!! If you decide to try this method of application I would like to share some helpful information – like the trowel that I use. This is a Japanese Trowel (you will find it on this page) and it is very light, slightly flexible and the easiest trowel to work with – great for beginners and experts – I LOVE MY TROWELS!!! Best to get a practice board and some material to play with – this can be joint compound (which is very inexpensive to play around with) and play with the application of troweling onto the surface. I say “less is best” with how much material you put on your trowel. Don’t load a huge glop of product and think you will control it – you can scoop out of the bucket or pick it up from a “hawk”. If you are right handed – you will load the right side of the trowel. (If left handed – load the left side). Make sure to watch the videos – they will show you how I load the trowel and apply the material!!!

Now it’s time to apply this Texture Medium to the surface – the angel of the trowel is important. When applying the texture to the surface you want a low angel, so that the material will transfer to the surface area – if it’s too thick in some places and you want to spread it out thinner – increase the angel of the trowel and this will spread and/or thin the material. Practice, practice, practice – it get’s easier each time you do it. Keep watching my videos – I show how to trowel the material onto the surface.

If you have total failure or hate the trowel (hate is such a strong word) – you can always brush the texture medium onto the surface – if you have doing a small project like drawer fronts – this will be an easy application. Just use a “chip” brush and apply the Texture Medium as thin as possible – you will have some brush strokes in the texture, but that is just added interest!

So now that you have the texture medium onto the surface – we need to get rolling while the medium is wet. Always check the roller to make sure it is spinning well – this will prevent you from sliding in the material, instead of rolling. Just roll through the wet material – it is as easy as that. If you’re not happy with the print – smooth it out and roll again. Really, really – it’s that easy!

Rolling Crocodile Roller through wet material. — Rolling Crocodile Fauxy Roller through wet material.

You will most likely have some “peaks” that are created from the roller pulling up the material – the thinner the application, the less peaks you will have. Just wait for the material to completely dry and then sand down as much as you want – I basically do a light sanding to eliminate the rough/high areas.

Now it’s time to finish the project – you can paint the texture, glaze the texture or even apply a wax. There are so many options to create with these rollers, just let your imagination run a little wild! You can create on Furniture – Cabinetry – Walls – Fabric – Canvas – the options are endless!

Here are some wonderful examples that have been created by customers and students – These are some AWESOME projects!!!

Created with Crocodile Roller. — Created with Crocodile Decorative Roller.

Created with the Tiger Roller by RockStar GlamHouse! — Created with the Tiger Fauxy Roller by RockStar GlamHouse!

Ceiling created with Crocodile Roller by Herb Shropshire. — Ceiling created with Crocodile Fauxy Roller by Herb Shropshire.

Created by student using Crocodile Roller — Created by student using Crocodile Decorative Roller

Created by Lisa DeSantiago. — Created by Lisa DeSantiago using the Crocodile Fauxy Roller.

As you can see the most popular roller is the Crocodile pattern or at least this is the one everyone has sent me pictures of projects (also – if I didn’t tag you in a project, please let me know – I had not tagged all the photos and wasn’t sure whom some of them came from – SORRY)!!!

Now – if you are planning to attack a wall – there is more information I would like to share (most of this has been covered in my last Blog about using the rollers – Pattern Rollers – Another Obession). When going for a larger project, it is nice to have several rollers for the job. One to keep as is and one to cut in half and maybe one to cut up and make a stamp with!!! If you have one large feature wall – no problem to have one roller. But if you project is a room, there will be different wall areas to deal with, like the small narrow space next to a door jam. This is when several rollers will come in handy – there is also a tool that you will find in the “clay” area of a hobby store called the “Wipe-out Tool” – it’s rubber tipped on both ends and we use it to “carve” the pattern if the roller can’t get into those areas – like getting all the way to the ceiling line.

Cutting the roller in half for two smaller rollers.

I also like have a 5 gallon bucket with water to throw the dirty rollers into and for the easiest clean up – use your hose and a 5 gallon bucket outside, the pressure gets all the product out of the crevices or just use a scrub brush.

I sure hope that you will give the Decorative Art Rollers a try and please let me know if there is any additional information that you need before you getting ROLLING!!!

Check out my YouTube Channel and watch all the different video’s on working with the Decorative Rollers – make sure to subscribe to my Channel!!!

Blessings for a wonderful rolling day

Jennifer R Ferguson

Pattern Rollers – Another Obsession

August 24, 2014 By Jennifer 2 Comments

Pattern rollers have been around for a long time and I played with them a few years back, but never embraced their possibilities. Over the last year or so, I started looking for these rollers once again and have been playing around with the different textures that I can create with and how FUN they are to incorporate in my decorative painting.

I have been posting on Facebook over the past several months, showing the different roller patterns/textures I have found and have been using in my decorative painting. My friends/followers have been asking many questions about using them in decorative painting and I thought it would be fun to address these concerns/questions/issues in a blog post…….hopefully I answer everyone’s questions – but if not, please feel free to post questions here!!!

Python - Diamonds - Crocodile and more — Python – Diamonds – Crocodile and more

To start with – there are many different patterns and textured rollers available to work with and I have found that I can just about roller through any texture material (all the products I use are made by Proceed by Golden or Modern Masters). The texture materials that are a little more heavy bodied, like Smooth Absorbent Texture (Proceed by Golden) is a little easier to work with than a “slick” texture like Smooth Translucent Texture…….the roller can possibly slide, instead of roll through these textures. But you can always mix the two of these products together and make a “new” wonderful texture material to play with (that’s a hint – love them mixed together – 50/50)!!

But, with a little practice and playing around – you can work with any texture material and may discover you end up with a favorite texture or two!!!

When working in different texture materials – I use my Japanese trowel to apply the texture to the surface, working in sections 2 to 3 feet wide and ceiling to floor if possible (depending on the open-time of the material you are working with). Once the texture has been applied to the surface, it helps to “wet” the roller in a bucket of water and then roll through the texture – you can clean the roller off in the water bucket to prevent the roller from getting loaded with too much material (I even learned this trick recently and love it).

There are many different patterns to choose from (www.artisticpaintingstudio.com/shop/tools/rollers/) – the patterns can be rolled vertically – horizontally – create stripes or random application – you are the artistic creator with these rollers and there really are not any rules!

One question I have been asked over and over: How do you handle corners, crown molding and baseboards? There are several options to handle all these areas.

1st option: There is a tool that has a rubber tip and you can uses this tool to hand carve the pattern into the areas that the roller is not reaching or continuing to print.

2nd option: Purchase two rollers – cut one off the roller and use this as a stamp to print the pattern into the hard to reach areas.

3rd option: Be creative in the layout of your design – you could always frame a wall, leaving a border all around the pattern roller – creating more interest to the design.

You will find that the rollers will “peak” up the edges of the material as you roll through it – which will require some sanding once it is dry. Sand the surface using 150 to 250 grit sandpaper to remove the “high pecks” if necessary. Complete the finish using your creative juices – using foils, glass beads, glaze, optional plasters, etc.

So far I have discussed all negative options for working with these rollers but you can also create a positive effect by rolling into paint and rolling the design onto a painted wall/surface.

I love working with them on furniture – drawer fronts are wonderful to work on and no issues of corners/etc.

From floral to animal skins – there are many pattern options to work with and the possibilities are endless…..I have been playing for many months and feel I have not even scratched the surface of options. You can order these on line for Art Rollers – they range in price from $12.95 to $20.95 for the Rubber style rollers and $49.95 for the Shamie style rollers.

Durability and life of a pattern roller is another question that I have been asked – these are all rubber material rollers and all materials that I have worked with to date and washed off the surface with no issues and as long as you take care of the roller – they should last a long time! The Shamie style rollers have also held up very well – I rinse well and then use a little soap to clean out residue left behind.

I have most of the rollers available on my online store – but some of them have just come in and have not been loaded on the site – if there is a roller you’re looking for and can’t find – please just call the studio at 714-386-3243 and I will help you out. I also teach many classes that incorporate using these rollers – so you can get hands on experience working with different rollers and different textures.

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