Tutorial - Miniature Faux Carved Gilded Frames

 Many years ago I purchased a collection of framed prints in an auction.  They were nicely scaled and finished, even covered on the back with nice wallpaper and signed “Bob von Fliss”.  Much later I learned Bob von Fliss was one of the original founders of NAME and the first Editor of the N.A.M.E. Gazette (so this is part tutorial, part miniatures history lesson!).  You can download the first issue of the Gazette from the NAME website and see him listed there.

I loved the antique carved ‘gilded’ look and wondered how he did it.  The faux carved look is from embossed foil called “Dresden” foil which you can find on Etsy. [click the keyword "faux carving" in the sidebar for my other posts on that topic]. The trim I used to replicate the Von Fliss frame (Napoleon, upper right of photo above) has a grape leaf or grapevine design but there are lots of Dresden foil borders which would work well for miniature frames.

To find the foil trim, search the words "Dresden foil border" on Etsy or Ebay.

Supplies:

• Wood trim for frame, 1/16th  inch thick by ¼ inch wide – or however wide you want your frame
• Wood trim narrower than frame, also 1/16th inch thick or thinner
• Index card
• Dresden Foil Border trim –see photo below for the designs I used
• Picture or art piece to frame
• Gold acrylic paint (I used DecoArt Dazzling Metallics “Splendid Gold”)
• Antiquing Medium (I used Plaid brand Antiquing Medium in “Cocoa Bean”)
• Paintbrush and paper towels
• X-Acto knife
• Wood glue

Close up of Foil Border Grapevine Leaf Pattern and Scallop

Here are the instructions for making your own faux gilded frame.

1. Cut main frame pieces to fit your art piece.  I didn’t miter the wood since the foil will cover it but Bob probably mitered his.  I just butted the pieces together.  Glue them together with wood glue
   
   
   
2. For extra support, trace around the frame on index card.  Cut out and glue it to the back of the frame.  The photo below shows the back with the index card and the art piece I wanted to frame. Below I am tracing around the art piece so I know how big to make my liner frame (step 7).
   
   
   
   
3. Paint the front wood and edges with gold acrylic paint making sure to paint the raw edges of the index card too (I forgot to do this before I glued the first 2 pieces of foil on but it will help if you do it before gluing on the foil).
4. Line up the outer edge of the foil border with the outer edge of the frame.  Use the X-acto to miter the corners of the foil at the corners of the frame.
   
   
   
5. Glue foil piece to frame.  Flip frame over and trim off gold foil from the back where it extends to the center of the frame. 
   

   
   
   
   
6. Repeat for the other three frame sides so you have all 4 sides covered with the foil.
   
   
   
7. If desired, add another narrow edge of trim to finish the inside edge of the frame.  I trimmed a very tiny edge off of a different border, a scalloped border.
   
   
   
8. Cut another 4 wood strips, (narrower strips this time) to support the back of the frame.  These should be set back from the inside edge of the frame and should be the right size to fit whatever art piece you want to frame.  Again, these don’t have to be mitered.
   
   
   
9. Paint the entire front and back of the frame with the gold metallic paint.
   
   
   
10. Add a hanging cord made from thread.  I just cut a piece of thread and glued it against the narrow trim on the back of the frame, let it drape across the opening and glue it again to the opposite side.  Allow enough slack so it will be above the center of the frame when hung.  This makes it easy to hang on a small sequin pin pushed into your wall with very tiny hole and makes it removable.   The thread is kind of hard to see in this photo.
    
    
    
11. When dry, brush on some Antiquing Glaze then wipe off immediately for an antique look.
    
    
    
    
    
    
12. Let dry and slip your art work between the frame and thread hanger.  Here are both the new frame (left) and the original by Bob von Fliss (right). The painting I framed was by Lynn Trenary.
    

Below is my finished frame hung above a fireplace.  Sometime in a later blog I will finish that room (I call it the "Guys from Texas Room").  I think the gold foil makes a very nice hand-made frame and nicely scaled.  It amazes me sometimes what nicely scaled items those early miniaturists could make by hand without access to Ebay,  miniature shops and the abundance of commercially made items available to us now.  There is a lot of charm in those vintage 1970s miniatures and we can learn a lot from them!

Until next month...Yikes!  Christmas is almost here!

Faux Carving (Method 2!) - Embellished Lower Kitchen Cabinets

This is the fourth in a series of blogs describing a kitchen project.  The first blog started in March (click the archive link at the side to go back). Two blogs ago, I shared a method of simulating carving using nail jewels, wood scraps and hand fan blades (for link click here). In this blog I will share my favorite technique for faux-finishing – using embossed gold foil shapes to simulate carving.

Before I get to the cabinet doors, I want to make mention of another (similar) embellishment technique – metal stampings (like jewelry findings).  The fluted posts shown with the lower cabinets are actually laser cut wood.  They were provided with the kitchen kits. Here is what they looked like before adding the jewelry finding and faux finish:

Brass finding for embellishment

I cut the metal finding apart then glued the pieces on then faux finished them in antique pine as was done for the upper cabinets in the previous blog.  You can find these by searching Ebay for "victorian brass stamping".  See the photo below for "after" faux finish.  This idea was inspired by Sandra Manring's kitchen (see her full kitchen photo in this blog post)

Now for the foil paper embellishment technique.  The lower cabinets are non-functional.  The project kit included a backing board which I painted a pale green (photo above).  The wooden trim pieces and finished doors were glued to the backing board.  The entire board was not glued in but I made it to fit tightly so it could be removed to hide the wiring (a later blog).

The laser cut doors and drawers had an etched center frame.  I removed a tiny sliver – a couple of layers of paper – from the inner frame to give it a little depth.

After removing the layers just in the etched crack, I burnished it with the edge of a cardboard – so it would be a little smoother when painted.

This is my favorite embellishment hint – foil applique’s!  The gold foil shapes are called “Dresden foil”.  I cut them apart and used small pieces to fit into the inner rectangle of the doors.  The very narrow foil trim strips (bottom of photo below) I mitered and used around the center rectangle.  On the narrow ‘drawers’ I just used the narrow trim.

Supplies Used:
Gold foil appliques - "Dresden Foil" (Ebay, Etsy)
Gesso base coat - white
Light base coat acrylic paint (Americana Hauser Green mixed with white)
Darker color for glaze (Americana Hauser Green)
Plaid/Folk Art (brand) Extender - allows mixing paints without drying out quickly
Small paintbrush, preferably the width of the door frames

After gluing on the foil, the next steps are shown in photo below, but to summarize:

• Base coat over the foil and cardboard with Gesso
• Base coat over the Gesso with light green (same color used for the base that the doors will be glued to)
• Glaze with a darker green mixed with “Extender” letting it puddle in the carved areas and wiping off the higher areas with a paper towel.

Let dry – extender takes a while and stays tacky for a while.

Finished cupboard doors.

Across the bottom of the cabinet base I put a narrow strip for a “toe kick” painted the same light green base coat.

Below is a photo of the finished doors with the wood trim pieces mentioned before. The area below the sink would later be covered with a skirt.  Green may not be everyone’s cup of tea for a kitchen but I happen to love the green/lavender combination!

Next month  I will cover some of the lighting I used in this project.  You can't see it in the photo but the entire lower front cabinet section is a removable panel (one piece).  Behind this panel I hid the wiring and 9 volt battery for the lights.  See you next month!

Faux Antique Pine Kitchen Cabinets - Paint Technique

Continued from the previous blog where we left off having primed the embellished cabinet doors with Gesso...Above is a photo of what the cabinets will look like at the end of this post.

The antique pine finish is made with acrylic paint and an "antiquing glaze" product which is usually sold in the same type/size bottles as the acrylic bottled paint.  Look for antiquing glaze products in the same aisle (with the paint) in Michael's or Hobby Lobby.

Here is another look at the finish I was trying to mimic.  This is a clipping from a magazine of an antique pine dish cupboard.  At the bottom of the photo are my trials in paint base coats.  At the bottom right is a laser cut decorative piece that was provided in the kit for embellishing the lower cabinets (future blog post):

So to continue with the faux paint technique, you will need:

400 grit sandpaper
Base Coat acrylic paint (I used a mixture of Maple Sugar and Desert Sand)
Plaid (brand) "Antiquing Medium" - Cocoa Bean (or any of the dark browns)
Ceramcoat (brand) Burnt Sienna
Plaid/Folk Art (brand) "Extender" - allows mixing paints without drying out quickly
Small, flat paintbrush, preferably the width of the door frames

Sanding - After the gesso was dry (last blog post), sand just a little on the flat areas using 400 grit sandpaper.

Pine Base Coat - I needed a base ‘pine’ color, like a yellow or tan.  I experimented with both Maple Sugar and Desert Sand and both seemed good.  I ended up using a little of both – not entirely blending them together but using a little of each here and there as a base coat.  Base coat the entire cupboard door.

Glaze – I practiced a lot on scraps of wood.  See photo below.  This was a lot of trial and error mixing the glaze product with a dark reddish brown (Burnt Sienna) and "extender", trying to get it so it was thin enough to flow and easily wipe off.  The practice piece with 'carving' (actually a scrap of laser cut fan blade) has dark splotches where I was trying to make 'knot holes'.  You can kind of see the different base coat colors under the glaze streaks.  Practice on a paper plate then something similar to your doors.

On the actual cupboard doors, I glazed sections at a time.  First one of the vertical frame sections then the other vertical then the horizontal. I dipped my paintbrush in a tiny amount of each of antiquing glaze and burnt sienna.  I then dipped the brush in a little of the extender and brushed back and forth on a palette (actually the flat area between the little dips in the plastic paint pan).

This diluted glaze mixture I brushed over the faux carved area and the flat areas of the mat board in long strokes with the “grain” (vertically on the cabinet door).  After lightly covering one side of the cupboard door, I then dragged the brush up and down (flat area only) making sort of a wood grain.  Then I just touched the end of the brush bristles sort of making a dotted design (like a knot or branch) here and there.  The extender makes it easier to go over it a few times until it looks like wood. 

When finished with one area of the cabinet door, move to the other vertical surface then do the horizontal frames.

It’s hard to explain the technique but I practiced a lot on paper plates before actually doing the cabinet doors to get a look I liked.  Here is an up close look at the doors.

When the cabinet faces were done, I did the edges of the doors and the edges of the window openings.  Then do the cabinet sides, bottom and tops trying again to use the brush to make streaks like wood look and knot holes (if you are ambitious!)
Here is a photo of the bottom of one of the cabinets (where I was cutting a hole for the wiring).  You can see the streaks of the wood grain. You can also see two different base coat colors where I changed my mind (but it was under the cabinet so I didn't attempt to fix it!)

I didn’t use any kind of top coat or varnish after painting and glazing because I wanted a sort of ‘dry wood’ look like the unfinished pine antiques I have seen.

That's it for the faux pine look.  Next blog we will embellish the lower cabinets using one of my favorite 'faux carving' techniques - to be revealed soon!