Insider Tips on how to recreate Dusky Rose patina on wood.
What do you see when you look at old paintwork? Chipping? Scuffing? Cracking? I see all of that and a whole lot more. Over the years I have trained myself to not merely look at old paint, but to really see it. To see its patina. To see its colours. To see its history.
As children, we were taught to name colours. Red, white, pink, etc. In time the palette grew as we added names like cerise, plum, salmon, blush. When we look at something, the colour immediately registers in our brains. We see a door. A pink door. An old pink door. But do we really see the colour of the door? Look closer. How many colours do you really see? It's not just one solid block of pure pink. It appears blotchy or wavy. It appears that colours have separated and merged to form various shades of pink.
Once you realise that this happens when paint ages, you can't help noticing these beautiful variations. The patina.
The same happens in nature. It is filled with those wavy colours that seamlessly run and blend into each other to form natural patina of its own. It is for this reason that I constantly turn to nature for inspiration when I want to create patina with paint.
After I was recently asked by a student how she would go about recreating the weathered finish of this door, I started studying the colours in order to mix the paint for my sample.
It was during this process that I took a break and went for a long beach walk. With all these shades of pink freshly ingrained in my mind, I was not surprised when I realised that subconsciously my eyes were picking out pinks from what the tide washed up. Never before had I seen so many pinks on the beach, although I'm sure they're always there.
What did however surprise me, was to find a piece of kelp (see image below) with its roots encrusted in a salmon pink matter that appeared to be a kind of coral. I had only ever seen this in white, but never in this colour. It was so perfect, it had to go home with me.
After photographing my finds from the beach, I followed the following steps to create a sample board that would match the finish of that on the door.
STEP 1
Pin all inspirational images showing a rich patina in Dusky Rose on a Pinterest board specifically designated for this colour palette.
Steps 2 to 4 were taken care of seeing as I already had the image of the door.
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STEP 2
Look at these in close-up. Note the amount of distressing of the paint on the flat surfaces and on the details of each piece.
STEP 3
Choose one finish that you think will work well on the piece you want to paint.
STEP 4
Enlarge the image as much as possible without losing definition.
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STEP 5
Study the paintwork in detail to identify the different colours that have been exposed through natural ageing over the years.
In this case, I identified 5 colours, excluding the colour of the wood.
STEP 6
Look very closely again and identify in which sequence they were applied. By this I mean, decide which colour was painted first, second, third and so on.
First: Pale Straw
Second: Mulberry
Third: Pale Pink
Fourth: Salmon
Fifth: Pink
STEP 7
Prepare your wood for painting. It will most certainly need sanding to some degree, even if you're using your homemade primer from Module 4.
STEP 8
Mix the paints in the various shades of pink you have chosen, using the recipes in Module 6.
STEP 9
STEP 10
Distress, always keeping your eye on the image you chose to work from. Stand back from time to time to view your piece from a distance and compare it to the image. Don't be afraid to distress "too much". You can always cover it up by adding another coat of the final colour where necessary followed by final distressing.
STEP 11
Seal your paintwork as we've shown you in the course, to create that extra rich patina.
I added a final step to this sample board and applied some "dust" to emulate that on the door in the image.
Happy Painting!
Tania
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UPDATE: In December 2015 we launched the FARRAGOZ Patina FINISHES Course. This old-world furniture paint finish, F307, is now one of the 26 FINISHES that students learn how to recreate using the detailed step-by-step videos and instructions in that course.
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