Amy Howard At Home Finishing School

— Old World Finishes Course —

1

2

Amy Howard At Home Finishing School

Welcome TO THE AMY HOWARD AT HOME Old World Finishes Course I’m very excited to share with you the skills that took me over 30 years to learn.

Many of the products you will use in this course were developed out of my time apprenticing with master finishers in Florence, Italy. Others came from studying the antique finishes my husband and I sought out all across Europe. We returned to Memphis and used these inspiring moments to manufacture a luxury furniture line, the Amy Howard Collection. In recent years, we have turned away from producing new furniture to teaching you how to rescue and restore existing pieces. I hope you will use this course to join us giving new life to some of the 28 million tons of furniture we throw away in this country every year.

My goal is to bring you into a whole new world of textural depths and finishes that will soon be able to replicate yourself. Upon completing this course, you will receive our special certification of mastery.

THIS COURSE IS PERFECT FOR: • The hobbyist who loves new DIY challenges • The creative who wants to turn their talents into a business • The furniture finisher who wants to raise their level of expertise • The maker ready to resell furniture for 3x or more what you paid for it

So let’s get started!

3

Module 1: Gilding Welcome to the gilding portion of the Old World Finishes Course. Successful Old World refinishing requires a deep understanding of gilding. You must know how to identify the proper placement of gold, silver, or copper leaf, as well as how to apply it. Gilding can truly transform the piece you are working on.

4

Amy Howard At Home Finishing School

— AMY HOWARD AT HOME PRODUCTS YOU’LL NEED — • One Step Paint • Synthetic or microfiber brush • Gilding Size • Natural bristle brush

• • • •

Sterling Silver Leaf Light Wax Dark Wax Chip brushes

• Dust of Ages • Antiquing Mirror Solution • Zinc Finishing Solution

OTHER MATERIALS YOU’LL NEED • Lint-free rags • Spray bottle • Steel wool

• Surgical gloves • Dust mask • Chip brushes

• Bowls or containers • Paper plate or spare cardboard

5

Torchère: a tall ornamental flattopped stand, traditionally used as a stand for a candlestick.

THE IMPORTANCE OF LEARNING NEW FINISHES First, study this torchère with its beautiful polychrome finish. It was done using a technique of silver leaf and acid etching, which you will learn now. You will start out learning this finish by gathering your Gilding Size, a glue-like material used to adhere leaf, whether it’s gold leaf, silver leaf, copper leaf, or even 24 karat leaf. Next, gather your Sterling Silver Leaf. Leaf comes in many different colors, so you need to use only what we’re discussing in this course to get optimum results. We will also be working with Light and Dark Wax, as well as Dust of Ages. This is a very important part of creating depth in finishes. Since we are creating a polychrome finish, you will also need our Antique Mirror Solution and Zinc Finishing Solution.

Finally, gather a couple of brushes for different applications and some containers to pour your products into.

Amy’s Tip: Use small wood samples to work on the projects in this course. Start building a library of finishes to show to clients, or as documentation for your future personal projects.

6

Amy Howard At Home Finishing School

WORKING WITH SILVER LEAF As we’re getting ready to do this polychrome finish, I want you to notice that we are working with sterling silver and not a composition silver leaf. It’s very important that you work with sterling silver because the acid etching will turn the actual silver into this beautiful, polychrome finish.

I also want you to notice the variances in the finishes you will get using this process. Some will be darker, others a little bit brighter, and on some you can even see here the leaf was laid down. This finish can also be done as a border! I really want to encourage you to look at where you can accent a piece with this polychrome finish. Maybe it’s creating a banding on a dining room table, placing it in strategic areas on finials, or maybe accenting the fluting on the leg of a table. Even as a small detail, this technique makes a bit impact. You can even see how effective it can be on a larger piece, like this sample where I created a darker, black-brown base to really showcase this wonderful antiqued look.

Amy’s Tip: When I have the opportunity to go to the Paris Flea Market or even to Don Scott Antiques Market in Atlanta, I always have my phone with me. I am constantly taking pictures of finishes… and you should do this too! Build up a repertoire of finishes for yourself to look at when you need inspiration or fresh ideas.

In this course, I want to take you through the process of creating this finish on a piece of trim. As I’ve told a lot of my students over the years, it’s really good to build your library of finishes. That’s part of what you will get out of this course – beautiful sample pieces of Old World finishes! Follow along with me using a piece of composition wood like the decorative trim I will use throughout this course. The detailing shows off a finish really nicely.

Let’s get started.

Module 1: Gilding

7

STARTING WITH A CLEAN BASE The first step in this project is to make sure that we create a dark chocolate brown color. When we’re working with silver leaf, the color that we use underneath, especially if we’re going to be antiquing, is very, very important. The color underneath needs to be very understated because, as you will see throughout this course, Old World finishes work a lot with layering. The colors underneath determine the success of the finish in the end. Here, we always start with a dark brown, and even more black tones as long as some of that chocolate brown is still there.

On this particular project, I like to start with One Step Paint. This chalk-based mineral paint provides a beautiful matte finish.

Amy’s Tip: Avoid working with acrylic-based paints for finishes like this. They will not provide the beautiful finish that you want to have when gilding.

Shake your One Step Paint up well and make sure that your surface is very clean.

The great thing about One Step Paint is that you can apply it on top of an existing finish. All you have to do is ensure that the piece is cleaned well. I prefer using Clean Slate to do this because it removes all the surfactants and gets rid of any existing wax or cleaners, even liquid gold, from the piece.

APPLYING YOUR PAINT Once your piece is clean, you’re ready to apply paint with either a synthetic or a microfiber brush. Dip it into your paint and brush it on to your surface. Make sure that you’ve got a nice even coat with no holidays.

Amy’s Tip: One of my goals with this course is to raise your level of connoisseurship in your vocabulary. If you’re going to use finishing as a way to build your business, you need to know the vocabulary that goes along with it. Be sure to take notes on any new terms you encounter as you complete this course!

8

Amy Howard At Home Finishing School

It’s just as important that you don’t have holidays when you move onto gilding, so practice getting a nice, even coverage now. Get your paint down into all the crevices and make sure that your strokes are nice and smooth.

I shared with you earlier that I created many finishes as a furniture designer. I would create the finish and marry it with the design of the piece – they would go

HOLIDAYS — An area that has been accidentally left unpainted.

together. That’s going to be a skill you will need to train yourself in, as not all pieces of furniture are going to look their best with an Old World finish. You want to create an Old World finish on pieces that have a little bit more detail. Ask yourself, “would this be a piece or design feature that could actually be from the 18th or 19th century?”

Once your piece completely painted, you’re ready to be able to start gilding!

USING GILDING SIZE So at this point, we’ve made sure that our trim piece, banding, or fluting – whatever it is that you’re applying the sterling silver to in order to create the polychrome finish – is completely dry. Make sure that you still have a very nice, clean surface Module 1: Gilding

9

– no dust! – to start gilding on because anything on your surface will be trapped underneath the leaf.

You will now gather your gilding size for this next part. A lot of people ask me, “Can I use a regular glue for gilding?” The answer is no. Size is a special kind of glue formulated just for gilding. Gilding is the name of the process for applying gold leaf, or gilt, as many people call it. Gilt is the leaf we will apply to our surface, just as people have been doing for thousands of years to make something look like solid gold, copper, or silver. It’s really nothing more than trompe l’oeil, to fool the eye, but it’s still a lot of fun and it can really transform your furniture.

Amy’s Tip: Always use gilding size in smaller containers because a little bit goes a long way.

Always apply gilding size with a natural bristle brush. Avoid working with a chip brush when doing large amounts of gilding, as it will leave lines in your gilded finish. To get started, dip your natural bristle brush into the size. For this project, we will be gilding the entire piece of trim. Remember, if you’re doing a piece of furniture or accent areas, make sure to tape off the spots you wish to gild.

10

Amy Howard At Home Finishing School

As you load up your brush, offload it on the side before applying size. Make sure you don’t have too much on your brush and work in long, clean strokes. When you first apply size you will see that it’s white. It’s very easy to see, especially if you’re working on dark colors like this. While there are oil-based sizes, I prefer working with water-based. Ours has no VOCs, so I don’t have to worry about any fumes. It comes to tack really quickly, so as you go along be sure that it’s nice and smooth, without any puddles. Then allow it to dry for about 10 minutes.

VOCS — Any of various organic chemical compounds (as formaldehyde or gasoline) that evaporate quickly especially from solvents, adhesives, fuels, or industrial wastes and that contribute to photochemical smog in the atmosphere.

THE IMPORTANCE OF TACK Once your size has dried for about eight to 10 minutes, depending on how thickly you applied it, take notice of when it’s coming to tack. You will know your surface has come to tack when it pulls against your skin just a little bit.

Amy’s Tip: Use your ring finger, the weakest muscle in your hand, to feel if your surface has come to tack.

It’s important to delay laying down leaf until your size has come to tack. A lot of people will start gilding as soon as the white color disappears, but your surface could still be wet at that time. If you lay the leaf on too TACK — quickly, it will never dry. So if you’re working The stage in a product’s drying process when on a large piece of furniture, you’ll want to you can gently touch the work in sections. If I’m working on a dining surface and feel that it is room table, I might apply size to just half of slightly sticky. the banding around the top edge of that table. After I gild that, I’ll move onto applying the size on the other half. Make sure to work in an area that you can comfortably finish applying size and laying down leaf within 45 minutes. That should give you a good gauge for how long you can comfortably work with an open tack time.

Module 1: Gilding

11

APPLYING SILVER LEAF The next thing we’re going to be working with is sterling silver leaf. As we open our book of leaf and get started, make sure that you work in an area with no air conditioning, heater, or ceiling fans blowing on you. The air will lift this delicate leaf, causing it to fly away. These books of leaf are fairly expensive, so I want to avoid having to replace your leaf before you even get started!

I’m going to simplify this process for you BURNISH — so that you can work with the book to lift the sheets of leaf and lay it down. First, fold Applying pressure by rubbing a surface so the tissue just a little bit under your fingers. that it becomes shiny or Now you can hold the entire book without it lustrous. falling away. It should be creased just a little bit so that you can turn the book over with your leaf facing the surface. Applying the leaf is a two-hand operation: Use your right hand to burnish the leaf down into the crevices while holding the book still with your left hand. Once the leaf is firmly applied, lift up on the book. If you’ve never worked with real sterling silver before, you will notice that it’s a little bit easier to use, but it’s also a little bit more likely to fly away!

12

Amy Howard At Home Finishing School

Take a good look at the leaf you just applied. If you see any little fissures where the leaf has broken, don’t worry. These are very easy to fill in with more silver leaf!

Amy’s Tip: If you’re also working on a large mirror or a piece that you want to feature these natural breakages, or fissures, that’s quite all right. You don’t have to fill it in all the time!

Before filling in the fissures, we’re going to continue gilding the entire sample piece.

First, fold the tissue back over the next sheet just like we did before. Make sure you’ve got a creased area to hold onto. Lay your leaf down so that it overlaps a little bit with the last application. Holding the book in place with your left hand, start to burnish it with your right hand. When gilding, you always want to burnish really well. The more you burnish, or apply pressure to the leaf, the prettier it’s going to be.

Continue working your way around the piece. When finished, we’ll do a second pass, laying leaf directly on top of the fissures to fill in those particular areas. As you work, do not touch the leaf with your fingers. The oil on your fingers will create a tarnished area. You will actually see your fingerprint on it when we start to do the acid etching, so don’t touch! Only touch the tissue the entire time. Go on and finish your piece. Then we’ll start acid etching.

Now that you have gilded the entire piece with sterling silver, go over it with a lint-free rag to make sure there are no loose particles. You want it to feel nice and smooth before moving onto the next step. Then, gather the products you need next.

One thing I really love is that a lot of my products can be used on a lot of different finishes. As a rule, we use Zinc Antiquing Solution to make sheet metal look like antique zinc. But we can also use it to antique sterling silver in a two-part process using both the Zinc Antiquing Solution and the Antique Mirror Solution.

Module 1: Gilding

13

USING ZINC ANTIQUING SOLUTION Amy’s Tip: Wear surgical gloves to protect your hands during this process. If some were to get on your skin it wouldn’t hurt you, but it might turn your nails blue!

Begin Part A of this process by pouring some Zinc Antiquing Solution into a small bowl. Dip a lint-free rag into the bowl and squeeze it out just a little bit. You want it to be saturated but not dripping. Then, using a patting motion, work the rag across the entire piece. Please be mindful to pat, not rub, and make sure you don’t place too much solution on the piece – you are going for a light application. Now, keep in mind that you won’t see anything changing yet. The magic happens when we add the second application, Antique Mirror Solution.

Before getting started with the Antique Mirror Solution, allow the Zinc Antiquing Solution to dry for a few minutes. Once it’s dried down a little bit and you no longer have too many puddles sitting on top of your sterling silver, it’s time for Part B of the process.

Now that it’s dried down just a little bit and you don’t have too many puddles sitting on top of your sterling silver, we’re ready for Part B of the process. Take the Antique Mirror Solution and fill a small mister bottle about halfway. Then fill it to the top with tap water.

14

Amy Howard At Home Finishing School

USING ANTIQUE MIRROR SOLUTION WITH A MISTER BOTTLE Now, if you want to antique your piece in a way that’s heavier and darker, put a little bit more Antique Mirror Solution in your mixture. However, I like to start out softer. I can always add more to make it look more aged.

Amy’s Tip: When you apply the mist, make sure you don’t oversaturate your sterling silver. If you do too much in the beginning, it will actually cause the leaf to lift.

Shake the solution up really well… and then start the fun part! Spray a little bit at a time on your sterling silver and you will see it starting to turn right away. Take your time and work your way around, ensuring that you don’t apply it too heavily. Can you see it start to age? Isn’t that exciting? I’ve been doing this for so many years and it never, ever gets old!

Now, this part is where you begin training yourself on when to stop. You don’t want to overdo it because effect will darken as it dries, and you can’t go back and lighten it. This two-part process of doing the zinc solution first and then the mirror solution starts something like a fight between them and creates the acid edged look.

Suddenly, your silver gilding appears to be several hundred years old!

Module 1: Gilding

15

I like to pat my surface as it dries down because I don’t want it to get too dark. If you look closely, you can see the appearance of something like watermarks. These little circles came from the mister, but it would actually also take place on real Italian pitted silver. These watermarks would happen over a period of time. I just love that we can so easily recreate them! Now, as it dries down, you can make it darker if you wish by misting it a little bit more. Once it’s gotten to the color that you like, come back and seal it with Light Wax, then Dark Wax, and top it off with some Dust of Ages.

CREATING A VERDIGRIS FINISH Copper leaf is a great way to create a verdigris finish. Verdigris is basically copper that has started to oxidize. It’s turns into a beautiful green-blue color. First, gild your surface just like we did on the sterling silver. I’ve also already mixed the Zinc Antiquing Solution with water. However, I am not using the zinc solution first.

VERDIGRIS — A bright bluish-green encrustation or patina formed on copper or brass by atmospheric oxidation.

First I’m going to use the Antique Mirror Solution to be able to oxidize it. The main thing you need to worry about making sure that you don’t oversaturate the piece. This will cause the leaf to lift when you go back over the surface to antique it.

Now, this application is going to turn really dark very quickly, and you won’t have much control over it. So take your time. Be sure not to spray in a linear pattern. Skip around so that it’s a random process as it starts to turn.

This is something that’s really going to change your finishing, because you are actually allowing these pieces to oxidize and age naturally very, very quickly with chemical compositions. Allow the surface to dry at least 1-2 hours before you come back and distress it.

16

Amy Howard At Home Finishing School

Let’s refer back to the finishes I showed you at the beginning of this class and remember all the things we can do with this kind of process: • Make bright sterling silver leaf look like it’s 200 years old

PUCK —

• Create broken areas or make the finish appear irregular and darker with your spray pattern

Hard wax used for distressing finishes.

• Make an ornamental piece look tarnished and old Now that we’ve antiqued these pieces, it’s important to move into waxing and working with Dust of Ages. Gather your Light Wax, Dark Wax, Dust of Ages, two brushes, some steel wool, and maybe some cardboard or a paper plate for offloading.

Always use two brushes when waxing. Make sure that you have a brush designated for Light Antique Wax and a brush designated for dark wax. You don’t want to mix them. You’ll notice as I load up that I’m working with a puck. Always offload before you apply wax to a piece of furniture.

Module 1: Gilding

17

DISTRESSING WITH STEEL WOOL But before I apply wax, I want to make sure that I distress this piece first. Come in with your steel wool and just start to wear down the finish. Do you notice something happening? Can you see that dark brown color starting to pop out here and there? That’s why we talk about the importance of layering. It’s a critical step in enhancing the details of a piece. I wouldn’t do an entire polychrome finish on something that didn’t have carving, some fluting, and beautiful detail to it. You’ll also notice the colors starting to change. It’s going from a yellowish color more into the gray tones. So, so beautiful.

I’m using quite a bit of pressure with the steel wool because I’m wanting it to change out to this really pretty silver color. Make sure you do this work with a four ought steel wool and press firmly into the surface, wearing it through and bringing out the brown to change the color. Then we’ll be ready to go into our wax!

Amy’s Tip: Never use sandpaper to distress leaf. Always want to work with steel wool.

18

Amy Howard At Home Finishing School

ADDING LIGHT WAX AND DARK WAX Brush off your surface, as you don’t want any residue from the steel wool in your finish. So dust it all off really well.

I’ve already got my Light Antique Wax loaded up. As I apply the wax, notice how I always use a criss-cross motion, making sure that I don’t get too much on the surface. Now, feel your surface… it’s nice and greasy! Make sure that this comes to tack before adding Dark Wax. This is where a lot of people will make a mistake. – they will apply the dark wax before this has come to tack. So make sure you’re touching it and checking it. When it comes to tack, it should not be greasy or moving around.

It should be cold. So if you wanted to, you could walk away for maybe 30 minutes or so while you wait to be able to add the dark wax. However, you don’t want it to dry completely. So you can’t walk away and leave it overnight! Essentially, you want to make sure that it’s dry to the touch, but that it still has some tack to it because that’s what’s going to allow Dust of Ages to get down in the crevices later on.

Remember that now your second brush is now going to be designated the dark wax brush. Press down into the puck firmly as you load up. In this way, the wax has saturated my brush very well. I’m going to offload it next, because I don’t want to have too much on the brush. That is the fastest way to ruin a project with Dark Wax. The whole intent of Dark Wax is to provide a little bit of age, a little bit of depth. I only want you to use it on furniture pieces and for creating polychrome finish edges. Come around on the edges just a little bit very, very carefully. Very, very lightly. Then come back and add just a little bit of the dark wax on the tips of the detailing. Allow the wax to come to tack before moving on to the next step.

Module 1: Gilding

19

CREATING DEPTH WITH DUST OF AGES Many years ago, I would take my young children to museums because I studied art history. I would show them the paintings and the furniture pieces, encouraging them to look down into the crevices. There was always that beautiful gray color in the crevices of those frames and inside the detailing of the furniture. If you’ve ever been in a museum and noticed this, then you know what I’m talking about.

It gives these pieces such depth, warmth, and authenticity. You can tell that they’re hundreds of years old. But you can actually create that on the pieces that you’re refinishing, too! I love using Dust of Ages on my painted pieces, but I especially adore using it when I’m creating finishes like polychrome and copper.

Be sure to work in an open, well ventilated area for this step. I also recommend that you work with a dusk mask to protect your health. Gather a third brush that’s clean and has never been used for wax. Dip the brush down into the Dust of Ages and then turn the brush sideways and tap it against the top several times so that excess 20

Amy Howard At Home Finishing School

dust falls back down into the jar. Using your brush, sprinkle a small amount of dust over your entire piece. Then, start laying dust down it into the crevices of your leaf using a light pouncing motion. Load up your brush again, offload it into the jar, and work it down into any remaining crevices.

Amy’s Tip: Don’t be afraid to use a lot of Dust of Ages. You want to make sure plenty of dust gets down into the crevices!

Now we will buff our Dust of Ages with a lint-free rag. It’s important to avoid using a terry cloth rag BUFF — because it’s got small fragments that will come off To polish or shine. into your finish. Bundle your rag up into your hand and buff your piece like you would a shoe.

You should audibly hear the “hit, drag” motion you are using across the surface. Be sure to only buff the surface and avoid pulling the Dust of Ages out of the crevices. These little details are what will take your finishes to a whole new level, and they’re all so easy! It’s a process and takes a little bit long… and this is one of the more time-consuming finishes that you’ll do. However, the rewards are quite spectacular.

I hope you can see how using polychrome silver, copper leaf, silver leaf, and even gold leaf on your pieces can transform your finishing as well as your projects. Take your time soaking in all the information provided here and enjoy learning this whole process, because it’s going to be an exciting new journey!

Module 1: Gilding

21

Module 2: Custom Waxes Welcome to the waxing part of our course. I’m going to show you just how easy it is to create custom waxes that transform the pieces you’re rescuing and restoring.

22

Amy Howard At Home Finishing School

— AMY HOWARD AT HOME PRODUCTS YOU’LL NEED — • One Step Paint • Vintage Wood Mercantile Mind Your Own Beeswax • Natural bristle chip brush

• Dark Wax • Dust of Ages

OTHER MATERIALS YOU’LL NEED • Bowl or container • Paper plate or spare cardboard

• Lint-free rags

23

HOW COLORED WAX ADDS DEPTH

I already painted this entire piece with One Step Paint, so it’s ready to wax. When you are going to paint a piece and wax it with colored waxes, you first need to apply a chalky mineral paint. Make sure you get complete coverage with no holidays, because the wax is only going to add to the color that’s there. Now, a lot of people might ask, “Why don’t I just paint it a blue color or gray color if that’s what I’m wanting?” We don’t do this because Old DARK WAX — World finishes are all about depth. Using A professional finishing colored waxes on furniture has been done for touch that darkens a piece in areas that would centuries. It not only protects the piece, but be naturally aged and also gives it a depth of color. You can also worn. Our special formulayer colored waxes, but for the purposes of lation can also be used on metal to preserve or this course, I’m going to show you how to enhance patina, as well as do one application of a colored wax. Then, if on raw or painted wood you want to, you can add some Dark Wax to as protectant or sealer. show greater detail and age.

24

Amy Howard At Home Finishing School

MIXING WAX AND PAINT Gather your Vintage Wood Mercantile Mind Your Own Beeswax, a squeezable carnauba wax. The reason you want to use carnauba wax here is because it dries to a really hard, hardy finish. It can take a lot of wear and tear without affecting the beauty of your finish. The other reason I’m using the squeezable wax is because I can easily put a small amount in a little bowl for mixing my color.

CARNAUBA WAX — Also called Brazil wax or ceara wax, it is valued for its hardness. This is the type of wax used on bowling alleys!

The next thing you’re going to need is a chalky mineral-based paint. You can’t use acrylic-based paints for this finish. I recommend working with my One Step Paint, because I formulated it to create the finishes I’m teaching you. Shake your paint really well, and then take a little bit out with a measuring spoon. I’m going to use just a little bit of this beautiful blue color called Vintage Affliction and mix it into the wax. To see the ratio of wax to paint, please refer to this lesson in Module 2.

Module 2: Custom Waxes

25

APPLYING THE MIXTURE WITH A CHIP BRUSH Amy’s Tip: If it’s particularly hot or you’re working on this finish in the summertime, make sure to wax indoors. You don’t have to worry about any VOCs or odor with this product.

Next we will load a chip brush with wax. Don’t use a synthetic brush or a natural bristle brush. Offload onto cardboard or a similarly sturdy material to get the wax saturated into the brush. Press your brush into the cardboard and move it around to make sure it’s fully loaded.

Amy’s Tip: One thing I love about using colored waxes is that you can have a bit of fun with it. Sometimes, when working on pieces that I’ve painted black, I’ll come back over it with a red wax. When I distress it down, a lot of people think that it had red paint underneath! It’s kind of a “fool the eye” effect that can be really fun and easy to accomplish.

As I work, I like to think about a piece and what kind of finish will really accentuate its beauty. I could have very easily enhanced the detailing on this piece by adding a secondary color of striping, or I could have added some gilding. Often you want to have a piece that looks provincial.

This wouldn’t be a glamorous piece that might’ve PROVINCIAL — been found in Paris. More likely it would be in From the countryside the countryside. Usually those pieces would not have gold or silver leaf on them. They would look more Scandinavian, more laid back. The color choices are also very important. As a rule, the Scandinavian or provincial pieces are pale grays, blues, or yellows. That is synonymous with pieces you’ll find in the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries.

ADDING SHADOWS AND VARIANCE Grab your brush that’s holding the custom wax we created by mixing it with One Step Paint, and apply it over the entire surface. View the Module 2 video to see how my wrist is moving as I apply the wax. It’s brushing and moving all the time.

26

Amy Howard At Home Finishing School

See how easy this is? I love the fact that it’s not creating a solid blue cover. It’s kind of striated instead. Now, watch how I work on a section at a time. Next, I’m going to get a clean brush and come back to striate just a little bit more. This is so fun and easy! Start paying attention and training your eye to see the color details, like how that dark blue gathers STRIATED — down in the crevices.

Striped or streaked If you want to, you can come back with some cheese cloth or a lint-free rag, and pull some of the base color back out. Do you see the variances already on this? The main thing is that you don’t want it to look too even. Can you start to see the shadowing effect?

I’m just pulling that wax off a little bit, which allows that beautiful base coat color to show through. You know, you can mix any number of colors together to add a little bit of gray or different values of blue. The versatility and the things you could do are literally endless.

Now I want this to dry just a little bit. I’m going to fan it as I wait for it to come to tack. Before you go into the antiquing process, make sure that your wax has come to tack. That will allow you a little bit more versatility when you start adding some age.

Module 2: Custom Waxes

27

WORKING WITH DARK WAX Now it’s time to add Dark Wax. I always work with a puck because I don’t want too much wax. Dark wax can really enhance a project, but it can also ruin a project very, very quickly. Be sure to use a new brush – don’t use the same brush that you used when you applied your custom blue wax. Be sure to offload again, and then just come back on the edges with the dark wax. Just barely touch those edges very carefully. Take your time. That’s going to add a little bit of depth and detail. I want it to be very, very subtle, so I’m just going to come in very soft and barely brush over the top, blending it as I turn my brush from side to side.

Now let’s compare side to side. You don’t have to add the dark wax if you don’t want to, but it can really be a beautiful way to add some detail. You can also just leave it that beautiful blue color! The last thing you need to be sure to do when working with dark wax is to allow it to come to tack. It’s going to take longer for it to dry, and you don’t want to apply too much of it.

28

Amy Howard At Home Finishing School

FINISHING IT OFF WITH DUST OF AGES Now, if you want to, you can come back after the wax comes to tack again. Just make sure that it’s not moving around before coming back in and adding a little bit of Dust of Ages down in the crevices. As a rule, pieces with details like this would have this kind of feature. So, taking a clean chip brush, dip it down into your dust, offload it just a little bit, and then pounce down into the crevices. And remember, please make sure that your dark wax has come to tack before you add this. Otherwise, it’s going to create a third wax color. Dust of Ages can also act as a polishing agent, giving your piece a really pretty sheen!

Module 2: Custom Waxes

29

Amy’s Tip: Hundreds of years ago, they didn’t have the chemicals and lacquers that we have now. So furniture was sealed with waxes, especially natural beeswax. This is why I say so often that you are learning how to authentically age furniture and decorative accents!

Gather a lint-free rag and ball it up, because we are going to buff out this piece like you would a shoe. Make sure you’re getting sheen on the top of the piece – the raised areas. I’m not concerned about going down in the crevices because I want the Dust of Ages to stay there. So I’m just going to put a little bit of pressure on the highlight parts. Can you start to see that sheen come up? That’s what would happen naturally over a period of time. Be mindful not to buff it too much, because you don’t want the whole thing to be shiny. You just want to give the impression that somebody was using this piece over hundreds of years… closing that little drawer over and over, leaving behind the oils from their skin and creating a beautiful, incredibly authentic patina.

You see how easy it is? All you need to do is make sure that you’ve painted your piece first with a chalk-based paint like One Step Paint. Then come back and mix any color that your heart desires with a squeezable wax. The possibilities are truly endless!

30

Amy Howard At Home Finishing School

31

Module 3: Cracked Patinas and Chippy Finishes Part 1 Welcome to the portion of our course all about textured patinas and chippy finishes. You may not know this, but I designed and manufactured furniture for over 27 years. In that time working as a high-end cabinet and furniture refinisher and finisher, I had to develop finishes with depth and texture. The idea was that when you touched them and saw them, the finish was as beautiful as the piece itself. So it was important for me to develop the same foundational finish that I’m going to show you today.

32

Amy Howard At Home Finishing School

— AMY HOWARD AT HOME PRODUCTS YOU’LL NEED — • One Step Paint • Cracked Patina

• Chip brushes

OTHER MATERIALS YOU’LL NEED • Bowl or container

• 400 grit sandpaper

• Lint-free rags

33

HOW A TEXTURED PATINA ADDS SOMETHING SPECIAL

Here’s one of my little benches from the Amy Howard Collection. You’ll notice the beautiful, very subtle texture that you see in the paint. If it was just applied with a regular brush, it wouldn’t have anywhere near the depth or feel. So, remember when you’re rescuing and restoring furniture, or making your own furniture, that you’ve got to have depth to the finish, not only in the color and layering, but also that textured patina.

BOLE — So you’ll notice that this piece, done in black has An adhesive for a very, very subtle patina. It’s not overwhelming.

Gold Leaf with rich red undertones.

I used regular painter’s tape to create a beautiful striped detail in our Gold Leaf. You’ll notice under the gold leaf that I added a color. Usually this color is called bole, or dark red, and is best used under gold leaf. That’s what is adding the extra detail to this. I’m going to show you how to get the same look on the pieces you’re rescuing and restoring. Let’s get started!

In order to be able to create a beautiful, textured patina like you see on my little bench here, start with a piece that’s painted with at least one coat of Black One Step 34

Amy Howard At Home Finishing School

Paint. Of course, you can do this particular textured finish in any color. However, I think it would be fun to show you how to do it in black, because I love having at least one piece of furniture in every room of my home in black. It anchors the room and it can really act as a beautiful accent piece.

PREPARING AND APPLYING CRACKED PATINA I have one nice, complete coat with no holidays on it. Next, I’m going to take a product that we have called Cracked Patina. Shake it up very well and squeeze a little bit out into a small bowl or container. It has a bit thick consistency with a beautiful caramel color. Now, this solution is going to thicken even more as it gets colder. So if its a bit too thick, I’ll add just a little bit of warm tap water. Believe it or not, when you’re working with products like this, consistency and temperature can make a big difference in the final finish. So work with warm water instead of cold water, as it’s going to mix a lot easier.

Taking a chip brush, make sure the water and Cracked Patina are nice and evenly blended. You can also use a spoon if you wish. When it’s mixed, dip your brush and completely saturate it. Go over your entire piece completely to achieve 100% coverage. There’s no need to do cross hatching or anything.

Module 3: Cracked Patina and Chippy Finishes

35

INTRODUCING CRACKED PATINA It will take 1-2 hours for this to get to a point where you can work on it. You’ll notice that the Cracked Patina will never reach a full drying point. If you touch it, it may feel sticky here or there. It’s going to remain that way forever. When you’re doing a Cracked Patina finish, think of it like the center of an Oreo cookie. You always have to sandwich it between two coats of paint. Remember, we put our base coat on first. Then, we applied a layer of Cracked Patina. Now, we’re going to come back on top of it with another layer of the One Step Paint.

This is where you can have some versatility. If you want to have a different color on the bottom, Cracked Patina, and then a different color on top, you can go through the pulling process that I’ll teach you in a moment. But first, on this bench, we will use the same paint color for both coats. So I base coated it in Black, applied a layer of Cracked Patina, and then painted a topcoat of Black again.

ADDING YOUR TOPCOAT First, make sure that your Cracked Patina has come to tack. I may feel a sticky place here or there, but overall I need to make sure that it’s as dry as it can be. Then I’m going to come back with my One Step Paint, making sure that it’s stirred up very well. Once your paint is nice and stirred up, check that the consistency is the same.

Amy’s Tip: Don’t store paints and supplies in your garage when the temperature is going to go down to the 20s, as that can freeze your paint.

Load up your brush and work fairly quickly, starting in the left-hand corner. You can’t really take your time on this, because this paint will start to pull and make what we call a double process. Apply paint very quickly and work in sections. For example, if you’re working on a drawer, just work on the front of the drawer. If DOUBLE PROCESS — you’re working on a side, just work on the This needs to be a pullout side, then on the top. definition but I don’t know what the definition is. Can Allow this coat of paint to come to tack you ask Amy? again. This means that it’s not completely 36

Amy Howard At Home Finishing School

wet, but to a drying point that I can start to manipulate it. As a rule, while one section is coming to tack and creating this textured finish, I’ll be working on the top or the sides, or on another drawer. If you’re working on a chair for instance, or maybe a stool like this, you can just work your way around to the other side. Just make sure that you’re keeping up with whether it’s come to tack yet. You don’t want it to get completely dry because you won’t be able to manipulate it.

CREATING TEXTURE WITH A CHIP BRUSH As the piece starts to dry, you’re going to notice some natural cracking. That’s why we call it “Cracked Patina.” Now you will take a clean brush and lay it down horizontally on your surface. Refer to the Module 3 video to see how I hold the brush.

Push the bristles down with two fingers so that they are uneven. This will allow me to pull and drag the brush and achieve the texture we want as the finish is cracking.

Remember, this has to be done before the piece is completely dry. However, it can’t be too wet, because then you would just be moving around wet paint.

Refer to the Module 3 video to see how I lay my brush down and agitate it. Pull, then stop, and then pull and hesitate again. This is a very slow, methodical process of dragging the brush across the surface. When you finish one “row,” flip the brush over.

Module 3: Cracked Patina and Chippy Finishes

37

Amy’s Tip: Here are two new finishing terms for you! In this lesson, our paint brush is what we call a negative tool because it’s pulling the paint away. If I had paint on my brush and was applying it to a surface, then that’s a positive tool.

To agitate the second “row” after flipping your brush over, overlap with that last pass a little bit. Lay your brush down and press your fingers into it. Agitate and press in, dragging your brush and pulling away the paint. This is what will add the texture you want to see in your finished piece. Continue on row by row, always slightly overlapping with your previous pass. As your brush starts to get saturated, switch to a clean, dry brush. When finished, allow it to dry completely. You’re already going to see some texture from this process, but I still have more to show you!

SMOOTHING WITH SANDPAPER After applying paint, agitating it, and pulling it off with our negative tool, I want you to come back and put on a second coat. But before you do that, take some 400 grit sandpaper and lightly sand your surface. This is because our surface got prickly as we agitated that paint and pulled it up. But on this particular finish, we want it to feel nice and smooth to the touch while visually maintaining that gorgeous texture.

38

Amy Howard At Home Finishing School

So before you put on that second coat, I want you to lightly sand the piece. Keep in mind that you’re not distressing, so don’t be too rough. After smoothing, dust it off and come back with your second coat of One Step Paint. Apply it very lightly, but with 100% coverage. If it feels a little prickly after the second coat, lightly sand it with the 400 grit sandpaper again. Now we’re ready to do our waxing!

CREATING A DIFFERENT TEXTURED PATINA

We’ve just gone over how to get a smoother, but still textured, patina that you can put on furniture, accessories, or cabinetry. Now I want to show you how to take that same technique, and kick it up a notch. You’ll notice that this urn is very textured. You’ll also notice that it’s pulled. You’re starting to see the secondary color underneath, which is the first coat that we applied to this urn. This particular color that we’re working with is Bauhaus Buff One Step Paint.

COVERING YOUR PIECE WITH CRACKED PATINA Follow the same application of laying down one nice, even coat of paint on your piece of trim or furniture, or whatever you’re working on. Make sure it’s completely dry. Then apply Cracked Patina just like before, adding just a little bit of warm Module 3: Cracked Patina and Chippy Finishes

39

water and stirring well. Refer to the Module 3 video to see the consistency that this should be once it’s blended. Make sure your brush is completely saturated. Offload and apply it just like we did before.

Ensure that you have 100% coverage by pouncing your brush to get down into the crevices. You’ll see that it’s very shiny so that you can easily see where you’ve already applied it. Make sure that you get it everywhere with a nice, even application. Allow it to dry 1-2 hours before moving on to the next step.

Remember, Cracked Patina is the center of the Oreo cookie. We always need a first coat, which is our base coat. Then we sandwich in the Cracked Patina, with our second coat going on top. You must always have a topcoat. We can manipulate the topcoat, which is what you will be doing in this segment.

CHOOSING AND APPLYING YOUR COLORS

POUNCING —

A firm up-and-down We have our light base coat of Bauhaus Buff One motion that pushes paint or other prodStep Paint, and we will continue on with a monouct into a surface’s chromatic color. However, this one, Luxe Gray, crevices and detailing. is just a little bit darker. When you’re working on pulled finishes like this piece, try not to go for too much contrast. You don’t want your base color and your top color to be in major contrast. Instead, you want to go up around 30 to 40% on the color value scale in the same color family. That will look the most 40

Amy Howard At Home Finishing School

authentic. Again, when we’re doing Old World finishes, you’re looking at using more subtle, muted colors.

I’m going to be working with Luxe Gray straight out of the container. Make sure that it’s been shaken really well, then stir it and load up your brush. Again, I’m working with a chip brush, which is a great tool for waxing and doing these cracked patina finishes. Make sure you offload and then paint over the entire surface. No holidays this time – you want to make sure you have complete coverage.

Amy’s Tip: Remember work in sections. Do one drawer at a time. If you’re working on the entire side of a chest, you must very quickly on each section.

You must work very, very quickly because this is going to start to crack and dry very quickly. Notice how quickly I’m applying it.

PULLING AND AGITATING THE PAINT When we’re at this point, we’ve got to watch it very, very closely. This is going to start to dry very quickly, and that means we lose our open time to pull it and distress it. So quickly get another clean chip brush to use as a negative tool again.

Lay it down into the paint and pull it, agitating and pulling. Life, agitate, lift, agitate, lift... Some of the areas are going to be a little bit wetter than others, and that’s okay. Do you see it starting to lift? Work your way across, making sure that it doesn’t get to a point to where the surface is completely dry.

Module 3: Cracked Patina and Chippy Finishes

41

Amy’s Tip: The more you do this, the more familiar you will be the tack time. As a rule, depending on the temperature inside the house, I may have to wait about 10 minutes – but no more – for this surface to come to tack.

Another thing you will see me do is use my hands. I like to be able to just get down here where a brush can’t. I’ll press my clean hand (no lotions or anything) into the surface and pull the paint up like this. Watch my technique in this module’s video.

It creates the effect of paint having chipped away. Keep working quickly while you’ve still got tack and the surface has not gotten too dry.

Now, take a look at your work! Don’t you love it? This is why I love working with two colors on these cracked patina finishes. It can look incredibly authentic.

READY TO WAX Wash your hands as you allow your piece to dry for at least 45 minutes to an hour.

Then, come back with 400 grit sandpaper and lightly sand it. We’ve got even more nodules than in our black finish on this one because of how we pulled the paint.

Once it’s completely dry, lightly sand the surface, dust it off, and then get ready for waxing.

42

Amy Howard At Home Finishing School

43

Module 4: Cracked Patinas and Chippy Finishes Part 2 It’s exciting to see how Cracked Patina, sandwiched between a base coat and a topcoat, can give us two totally different looks just by changing out colors and pulling.

There’s this very classic, beautiful bench here, and then a very rustic, chippy finish that we created by layering two colors instead of one.

44

Amy Howard At Home Finishing School

— AMY HOWARD AT HOME PRODUCTS YOU’LL NEED — • Chip brushes • Light Wax

• Dark Wax • Dust of Ages

OTHER MATERIALS YOU’LL NEED • 400 grit sandpaper

• Spare cardboard

• Lint-free rags

45

Once your pieces are dry, we want to finish our projects by lightly sanding them with 400 grit sandpaper. This is not to make sure that you’re distressing a piece.

The whole point in lightly sanding is to make it feel wonderful to the touch. A lot of times, I close my eyes and rub my hands over the piece I’m working on, because I want it to feel wonderful for my customers. After sanding, dust it off with a chip brush. You will see a lot of residue from your sandpaper, so make sure to get all of that off. And now we are ready to wax!

THE IMPORTANCE OF SEALING A FINISH We are going to use two waxes. The whole reason for working with the light wax in puck form is because it’s got a beautiful amber color. The color comes from the combination of beeswax and carnauba wax. Natural beeswax features this color, and using it in combination with carnauba means it will dry to a really hearty, hard finish. That’s important when we’re sealing a piece of furniture with wax. When using Cracked Patina, you must seal the finish. It can be reactivated if you don’t seal and protect it. Adding these waxes and, if you want to, some Dust of Ages, can take your work from just a regular painted finish to a higher level of beautiful furniture or upscale cabinets.

As always, we’re going to use two brushes. The first one is for the Light Antique Wax. Offload it onto some cardboard, making sure that the wax is evenly distributed all around your brush. Apply it everywhere, but avoid putting it on too thick, as it could take too long to dry. Make sure that it’s down in the crevices – everywhere. A lot of times people put way too much wax on their piece, so you will have to get a feel for the right amount. Now, once it’s everywhere, you’ll feel how greasy it is. It will need to come to tack before we add Dark Wax. That is very, very important.

46

Amy Howard At Home Finishing School

USING WAXES CORRECTLY Make sure that you allow this to come to tack. Here’s the mistake that a lot of people make: They go directly into adding the dark wax and it smears and blends, making a third wax. That means your piece will look like it’s just one color, which is not desirable. The whole point of the dark wax is to add a little bit of dirtiness where the piece would have been used over the years. We are trying to replicate authentic finishes that people will think have 50, 100, or even 200 years of age to them. So you want to be very, very careful in how you apply your dark wax. In this instance, less is more. The other important thing about waxing is that you should use a brand new, clean, dry brush for each wax application.

Amy’s Tip: Do not clean your wax brushes with soap and water. Instead, use my Clean Slate solution, as it will completely remove the wax from your brushes. Then store your brushes in an upright position so that the bristles can better stay intact. If you take care of your tools, they’ll take care of you and your projects!

Notice how I always load my brush from a wax puck in a circular motion. I don’t jam it into the wax. It’s always a circular motion, because this method evenly distributes the dark wax onto my brush. A lot of people have asked me, “How do you get that beautiful dark color? It’s just perfect.” It took me many years to get this color exactly right, and I mixed it with a combination of carnauba and bitumen. Bitumen is a tar that we have shipped in from the UK. It’s the perfect color to make a dark wax that doesn’t go too green or have an otherwise “off” color that’s not as beautiful as you would like for a piece like this.

BITUMEN — A tar from the United Kingdom that creates the neutral color in Amy Howard at home Dark Wax.

Now it’s time to check on my black finish. I want to make sure, as I’m touching it, that it’s not greasy. Again, if it’s too greasy it’s going to affect your finish by blending the waxes. Now, you’re not going to see the dark wax as much on the black paint, but you will notice a difference. So don’t skip this part! I do want you to add it. If you’re working on a piece of furniture, start on the edges first. So if I were working on a drawer, I would go around the outside edges of the drawer first and then blend my way to the middle.

Module 4: Cracked Patina and Chippy Finishes

47

ADDING DARK WAX GRADUALLY AND GENTLY Now, you’re going to see the dark wax a lot more on this lighter chippy finish. This is my pulled finish that you can see on my urn in the Module 4 video. I’m going to load up my brush just a little bit more and then come around the edges very, very carefully. If you lay just a little bit down and it looks kind of dark, offload again. We want to make sure that this is a gradual process.

Amy’s Tip: I don’t know why, but a lot of my students over the years would go directly to the center with their dark wax. Always start your dark wax on the outside edges of anything you’re working on, whether it’s an urn, a drawer, or a table where you can start at the top edges of each side.

Starting on the edges very gradually allows me to see what’s happening. Look at the transformation already with so little! Observe how I’m just very barely touching the brush down onto the surface. I’m not pressing it hard. It’s just lightly touching it, almost like a butterfly kiss, as we used to tell our kids. Just very, very gentle on the top. You don’t want to overdo this part because you’re going to lose the opportunity to have a very authentic looking finish. I’m loving the results we’re getting! This finish never gets old to me. It looks so authentic and it’s so, so easy to do.

48

Amy Howard At Home Finishing School

POLISHING AND TRANSFORMING WITH DUST OF AGES I’m going to set this aside and come back over to the black piece. First, I’m going to touch it and make sure that I’ve got tack. Then I’m going to add Dust of Ages. Dust of Ages can transform anything you paint in black. It acts as a polishing agent, as well as getting down into the crevices like the natural dust that would gather over the years.

This is another reason why it’s very important to work with a chalk-based paint.

If you start adding waxes and Dust of Ages to an acrylic-based or oil-based paint, they’re going to sit on the surface. But we formulated these products to all work together. So they will go into the actual paint itself and become embedded. That way, when you start to buff it and polish it, it has the authenticity of a very old finish.

Take just a little bit of your Dust of Ages and apply it to the surface. Remember to use a dry, clean brush, tap it on the side of the jar, and then pounce it down into Module 4: Cracked Patina and Chippy Finishes

49

your carved surfaces. Now you’ll notice that I even use Dust of Ages on this smooth finish. It’s not just for carved surfaces, even though you can see it a lot more on those. I always use it on the smooth surfaces too because it can really add to the beautiful patina.

Once again, you’re going to need a lint-free rag to work in a buffing motion, just like buffing a shoe. You’ll notice that beautiful sheen starting to come up. That’s what makes this finish look so incredibly authentic. Be sure to leave Dust of Ages down in the crevices, too.

Amy’s Tip: Remember to always make sure that your wax had come to tack so you can achieve that beautiful, natural sheen and patina on your piece.

Now, on this particular chippy piece, it’s really not necessary for me to come back and add Dust of Ages. Being a light gray color, it really wouldn’t show up that much. However, it’s totally up to you. Hopefully you can now see the versatility of using Cracked Patina, whether it’s a smoother finish like our black furniture piece or working with two colors and pulling it like this chippy urn. The opportunity for creating all different types of finishes are endless. Now it’s your turn to go enjoy the bragging rights!

50

Amy Howard At Home Finishing School

51

Module 5: Toscana Finishes 52

Amy Howard At Home Finishing School

Welcome to what might be my favorite segment of this course – working with milk paints, Legno Gesso, Cracked Patina and waxes. In this section, I’m going to show you how to create new looks over existing stained pieces you already may have, and how to refinish elegant, smooth surfaces like this bench from my Amy Howard Collection. We will also look at beautiful items like these corbels and distressed, multicolor Toscana finishes that will take any ordinary piece and truly make it look like a collector’s item.

— AMY HOWARD AT HOME PRODUCTS YOU’LL NEED — • Gel Stain • Legno Gesso • Amalfi Coast Toscana

Milk Paint • Scandinavian Gray Toscana Milk Paint

• Antiquing Glaze • Light Antique Wax

OTHER MATERIALS YOU’LL NEED • Natural sea wool sponge • Spoon • Small bowls and

containers (at least one with a lid) • Cheesecloth • Spare cardboard

• Lint-free rags • Warm or room temperature water

53

Let’s get started with this portion of our course, called Toscana Finishes. Toscana means “Tuscany,” a beautiful, countryside region of Italy where so many of these finishes could be found on antique pieces.

To create these finishes ourselves, we use a material called milk paint. It contains a casein derivative and it has to be kept in a powdered form. It is truly one of the most beautiful finishes that you can create.

USING GEL STAIN ON RAW SURFACES An important thing to note is that if you’re working on a raw wood piece, you will have to stain it first. You’ll notice that you can see the stain underneath on many of the pieces we have antiqued. However, there is another option. If you have an existing piece of furniture, like the adorable little chair in the video, you can apply Toscana Milk Paint directly onto the stain.

Make sure you clean it first with Clean Slate. That will remove common materials like liquid gold that may have been used on the piece, and even wax.

Amy’s Tip: Amy Howard at Home Clean Slate is one of the only products on the market that can take wax off of furniture!

TOSCANA — A countryside region of central Italy that was the cultural hub for much of the country’s history.

MILK PAINT — Some of the earliest cave paintings known to man were created with a very basic combination of milk, lime, and earth pigments.

As these formulations were refined over time, milk paint coatings became more and more beautiful and durable.

Traveling painters in Old World Europe and colonial America would carry these pigments with them, mixing the powders with milk and lime when it was time to paint.

Although we no longer need access to goats from the farm to make milk paint, it still must be formulated with casein, a protein found in milk, to achieve its unique velvety finish. So the name “milk paint” remains a perfect fit even though it can now be commercially manufactured.

CASEIN — The main protein present in milk.

If you are working on a raw piece like the one you can see in the Module 5 video, I want you to use my Gel Stain first. One 54

Amy Howard At Home Finishing School

of the first things you’re going to notice about this product is that it has a beautiful fragrance due to the essential oils we’ve added. Next, notice the gel consistency. This makes it really easy to apply. It’s not thin, which allows it to hold in place. Load just a little bit of the stain onto a chip rush and apply it to your surface, making sure to get into the crevices. If you avoid putting it on too thick, you won’t have to come back with a rag. You’ll be able to leave it just like this.

Make sure you get it 100% covered and then allow it to dry for about an hour.

After that, we’ll be ready for the next step.

PREPARING CRACKED GESSO As with all of these Old World finishes, Toscana finishes are all about layering. Each layer adds more dimension, more visual texture, as well as texture to the touch. This is a very important step that you do not want to miss. This is a process that I developed and patented to give your finish a beautiful crack, as well as a white element that is worn through. I originally called this step legno gesso. Legno is “furniture” in Italian, and gesso is a primer for canvas or furniture. Years ago, they didn’t have the tools to create the ornamentation, carving, and details on things.

Module 5: Toscana Finishes

55

So they would create layer after layer after layer after layer of gesso. or calcium carbonate (chalk) plus other ingredients that turned it into a thickening agent. They could then go back in with small tools and carve out the detail you see here. Now, the only problem with this is that chalk doesn’t wear well. Think about how wars would be causing these pieces to move to CRACKED GESSO — different parts of Europe. These details Amy Howard at Home would chip off and fall away. Now, as we Cracked Gesso recreates the texture and charm that histosee pieces that have been worn over time, ry lends to wooden furniture it’s very desirable to have that little white and the decorative accents gesso pop through, especially under gold that make a house a home.

Use with Toscana Milk Paint leaf or on painted finishes. It’s a very to achieve a lovely cracked desirable element. finish that once took layers of paint and years and years to develop.

First, we stained our piece so that we have that beautiful dark color. The second layer that we’re adding now is our Legno Gesso. We’ve updated it and made it easier for people to understand, so we now call it Cracked Gesso. It comes in a powder form, so simply open the bag and spoon out as much as you need. For this project, working on a small corbel, you will just need a small container of it.

Amy’s Tip: Anytime you’re working on a pair – a pair of consoles, a pair of nightstands, or pair of chairs – make sure to mix up the total amount of Cracked Gesso and paint that you need for both, because it’s impossible to replicate it later. That’s part of the beauty of this hands-on process!

Take a little bit of the powder out like this and mix it with some warm tap water.

It’s usually about one part water to two parts gesso. Now I’ll stir it up a bit – it’s a lot like cooking! A lot of people don’t realize that these products are like shopping in your grocery aisle. They’re all-natural, so you don’t have to worry about synthetics. That’s part of the reason we have to keep it all in powder form. Once you mix it up, it’s only good for about two weeks. Once mixed, keep it in the refrigerator. As a rule, I’ll just mix up what I need for a project and then I throw away what I don’t use.

56

Amy Howard At Home Finishing School

Now that I’ve stirred that up pretty well, I’m going to put a lid on it so I can shake it. Make sure that you have two containers ready on your worktable, because you’re going to strain this mixture into another container. If you’re not sure what kind of container to use, you can easily use a mason jar. I try to keep all kinds of little containers around!

Amy’s Tip: Make your gesso the night before you’re going to brush it onto your piece.

It will thicken up and you’re gonna like working with it so much better.

STRAINING CRACKED GESSO Shake it up really well. Here’s one of the caveats: As you’re shaking it, you will be creating a foam. You do not want to paint with foam. That’s why it’s really important to strain the mixture into another container. Take a single sheet of cheesecloth and hold it over the mouth of a second jar, or use a rubber band if you wish. Pour the gesso over the cheesecloth to strain out the foam. It will also prevent your mixture from being too gritty. Then gather up your cheesecloth up and throw it away.

Now I’ve strained my Cracked Gesso, and I’m ready to apply it. Remember to make sure that your stain is completely dry before moving onto this step. Because these products do not have chemicals added to them that prevent separation, you must make sure to agitate Toscana Milk Paint and Cracked Gesso with your brush as you work. After one or two passes, dig your brush down into the container and stir it up to make sure the ingredients are continually agitated. Offload your brush onto cardboard or sturdy paper.

Module 5: Toscana Finishes

57

APPLYING CRACKED GESSO As you begin to paint on your gesso, it’s going to look kind of milky and pretty thin. Just make sure that you’ve got a nice, even coverage. Sometimes, depending on how much I want it to crack, I’ll come back and apply two coats. As you work, don’t let it puddle too much – when you’re working on a carved surface like this corbel, it is a little bit more difficult.

Amy’s Tip: When you’re working on a drawer or chair, this mixture will have a tendency to run. So I recommend laying the chair down on its side or taking the drawer out of the piece while you work.

Allow this application to set by drying for about 20 minutes. Then go on and apply your second coat of Cracked Gesso if you want more cracking in your finish. As a rule, I’m okay with one application about 80% of the time. Now you can see just how white this Cracked Gesso is going to be. We don’t see our stain anymore at all.

If you can still see a lot of the stain after your gesso has dried, I would come back and put on a second coat, because this is such an important aspect of you getting a beautiful finish with the Toscana Milk Paints.

Once you have completed your gesso application, take a little bit of sandpaper and lighten soften the surface. When you apply Cracked Gesso, it is so very, very hard.

But you want to make sure that it’s soft to the touch. Clean your surface with a dry brush to remove any residue left on your surface.

PREPARING TOSCANA MILK PAINT Now we’re ready to mix our Toscana Milk Paint! I’m going to show you how to make different paint colors, even though we only have a few colors in the Amy Howard at Home Tocana Milk Paint line.

58

TOCANA MILK PAINT — Toscana Milk Paint allows you to easily recreate the iconic historic patina found on European antiques. Each carefully curated pigment is sourced from Italy and the South of France to provide superior finish, color, and vibrancy. Whether you are a beginner or an expert purist, you are sure to fall in love with Amy’s favorite finish!

Amy Howard At Home Finishing School

Amy’s Tip: Did you know that the color of pigment you see in the bag is the color your paint will dry down to? Even though it gets darker when you add water, it’s going to end up the same color you see in powder form!

Here I have two of my favorite colors, packaged individually, and I’m going to mix them into an even more amazing color. I’m working with Amalfi Coast and Scandinavian Gray, which come in a dry form like this with endless shelf life. They’re good for many, many years. However, once you mix it up, it’s just like the Cracked Gesso with a shelf life of about two weeks. Mixed paint needs to be stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator. Now, if you mix a large batch and you keep it in the refrigerator, make sure that you allow the paint to come to room temperature again before you start painting with it. Now, don’t put it in a pan and heat it up, and don’t put it in the microwave. That would change the composition of the paint. Just allow it to sit out and get to room temperature on its own. Then, shake it up again inside the container you mixed it in.

MIXING A CUSTOM TOSCANA MILK PAINT COLOR I’m going to take a little bit of Amalfi Coast, and because I want to end up with a darker color, I’m going to add this beautiful gray. These pigments are all natural – not synthetic – and they actually come from Tuscany, Italy. As you mix these two pigments together, you can start to see the color you’re creating. The possibilities are endless. Now, look at that beautiful color! I’m going to add just a little bit more gray, and then make sure that I’ve mixed enough to be able to complete my entire project. I’m loving this blue-gray color. It goes with everything. It’s very classic and quite timeless.

Module 5: Toscana Finishes

59

Once you see the color you want, add a little bit of warm water (room temperature is also fine). Often, I will take a Sharpie or a plastic measuring cup to help me make sure that my mixture is about one part water to one part powder. As I stir, I check to make sure that I like the consistency of it as well. Now you can start to see how much darker it becomes with water, but remember that It’s going to dry down lighter. Last, I’m going to tape my top down and seal it up. You can easily use a mason jar for this step if you wish. Now shake it up really, really well.

It’s so nice to work with products that don’t have all those harmful chemicals in them that you normally have to worry about. However, you do have to seal these finishes with wax. Many people think that milk paint is a hardy finish, but it’s not as hardy as One Step Paint. You can apply a milk-based paint on top of a stained surface, like this chair, where you can see the stain where I’ve worn it down. You can also use One Step Paint first as your primer. Basically, milk paint is totally different from chalk-based paint. You must use a binder or apply it on top of One Step Paint.

My preference is to create a base coat with One Step Paint, usually Bauhaus Buff, and then I apply the Toscana Milk Paint on top of it.

After checking to make sure the paint looks good, use a chip brush and stir it up again. Remember, this does not have chemicals and the anti-separating agents in it like a lot of paints do. So make sure that you agitate it and hat it’s nice and stirred up. Then I’m going to shake it a couple more times and strain it. Just like with the Cracked Gesso, you do not want to paint with foam. So after making sure this is mixed up really well, you always need to strain it. So once again, I’m going to take just a little bit of cheesecloth, lay it out over another container, and pour this through. This way I know there aren’t any pebbles, there’s no foam, and I’m going to be much happier with my finish.

PAINTING WITH TOSCANA MILK PAINT Now we’re ready to paint, and I’ve got my clean chip brush ready to load. Now, a lot of you are used to working with really thick paint, especially if your introduction to painting furniture was with my One Step Paint. It does have chalk in it, but it’s still very thick. It has a heavy body, so it doesn’t run. However, if you’re working with Toscana Milk Paint on a piece of furniture, you’ve got to make sure that your surface is lying flat. If you try to work on the horizontal, the paint will run... and 60

Amy Howard At Home Finishing School

you don’t want runs like that in your surface. Remember, you’ve got to continually agitate and stir your brush into your paint as you apply milk paint, as it has a tendency to be a lot runnier than most paints you’re used to. However, once you get used to it and you can account for the consistency, it’s going to be one of your favorite finishes.

Amy’s Tip: When applying milk paint, make sure to do these three key things each time. Keep agitating the container of paint as you go along to make sure it stays nice and stirred up. Always make sure your piece is lying down so that you can control the drips. Pounce the paint down into any areas where you see holidays.

What a beautiful color! I love being able to customize colors and mix them up like this. You can literally sit and mix a lot of different values of blues and grays and become known for that. I’m just going to continue painting this entire piece, and then allow it to dry for about 15 to 20 minutes. Once dry, you may see a few holidays where some of the white is showing through, which is perfectly alright. It’s not necessary to come back and put on a second coat.

Amy’s Tip: If you rescue and restore furniture as a career, this process is really going to take your work to a whole new level. You will be able to charge more for your furniture, as these finishes are more valuable, more desirable, and more difficult to find.

USING ANTIQUING GLAZE In the antiquing process, I’m looking for depth. With this technique, we’re going to start to see the stain we put on first. We’re going to start to see our gesso, and then we’re going to start to see this color sort of “wash away” as if hundreds of years have passed. It will look like a lot ANTIQUING GLAZE — of people have touched it and loved it.

Amy Howard at Home AntiquWe will start to see a visual depth to ing Glaze results in a provincial style finish inspired by Tuscany, this finish. For this part of the finish, Italy. In just a few simple steps you need my Antiquing Glaze and a you can achieve the lovely natural sea wool sponge. aged tint found on antiques of yesteryear.

Module 5: Toscana Finishes

61

You should not use a kitchen sponge for this process, as you need all of these nodules that come with a natural sea wool sponge. You also need a couple of plastic or glass containers for the Antiquing Glaze. You also need a separate bowl of water for cleaning the sponge, as well as a lint-free rag. First, shake up the Antiquing Glaze and then pour a little bit into your first bowl. You do not need to thin it down, as It’s already in the perfect consistency. Now I have already immersed my sponge in water. They’re going to come very hard, but you want to make sure that you get it back to its natural state of being in the ocean. So put it in water to soften it, and then squeeze all the water out. You don’t want any water in it. We are just making it pliable and easy to work with.

The first thing you’re going to do is dip the sponge into your Antiquing Glaze and squeeze it out. You don’t want to drip it everywhere. And again, we’re going to be working on a horizontal surface. So if you’re working on a drawer or on the side of a piece, you must lean it over on its side. Work fairly quickly, as we don’t want to

62

Amy Howard At Home Finishing School

have stop and start marks. Remember, this particular finish looks best on surfaces that have some fluting or some carving in the details.

Amy’s Tip: Take notice of how much lighter the corbel is now that it’s dried. Remember when we added the water and painted it on, the paint was a fairly dark gray. This paint will always dry down to the same color as its powder form.

So now we’re going to be using our sponge as a negative tool. We’re going to be lifting the paint off rather than applying something. The Antiquing Glaze is going to help us discolor the surface as we lift the paint off. Lay down the Antiquing Glaze with a hit-drag motion. Once you NEGATIVE TOOL — have some solution applied, start to press Using a paint brush or other tool (even fingers) in a little bit more. I want to make sure to remove parts of a finish. that I’m not dragging it too much, and Conversely, a positive tool I’m going to take my time. After your adds or applies something new to a finish. surface is wet and saturated, come back over it with a lint free rag. You will start to see the stain showing through. You’ll start to see the gesso. The amount of distressing you do depends on the surface you’re working on. If you’re working on a piece like a drawer, or maybe an area that’s not as carved, you don’t need to distress it nearly as much.

Amy’s Tip: Focus more on distressing the edges. Remember the stool we looked at in the beginning of this module? It was only worn around the edges. That’s what makes it look more authentic.

Before you go back and apply more glaze, put the sponge into your water and clean it really well. You will see a lot of paint coming off the sponge. Make sure that you get all that paint out before you go back into the glaze. Now I’m ready for my second pass. Load your sponge up with the glaze. You’ll notice this time, because the finish has gotten a little softer, you can really start to wear it down. This never gets old for me. I love this part of creating these beautiful finishes. Always come back and pull some of that gesso out. I want to see that white underneath – it is very, very desirable. Take your time and don’t get too carried away. Be sure to watch how drippy it will get. Make sure you turn it onto horizontal surfaces as you work your way around.

Module 5: Toscana Finishes

63

Amy’s Tip: Make sure that you keep about an 80/20 ratio with your distressing.

That’s why I recommend working on sample pieces to get really get comfortable with what this process looks like.

Now I’m starting to get the corbel kind of saturated, so I need to clean it out. You’ll notice how I’m using this rag in my left hand in the Module 5 video. I use it to pull at the finish and make sure that I get to any excess glaze. Now I’m going back into my water and cleaning out my sponge really well. You’ll see the water getting dirtier as I load my sponge back up with Antiquing Glaze and continue on until I’m completely happy with my distressing. Allow it to dry for about 15 to 20 minutes, and then we will be ready for waxing.

SEALING TOSCANA MILK PAINT WITH WAX When working with milk paint, you always have to seal it. This not only adds an important finishing touch to your milk paint patina, but you also have to make sure that your piece is protected. It can be reactivated by any moisture, even from an iced tea glass or water that might be sitting on that surface. Toscana Milk Paint finishes are not as desirable on the top of something like a dining room table that’s going to be used a lot. In that case, it might be best to use Furniture Tonic to create

64

Amy Howard At Home Finishing School

a stained finish on the top of a table that could complement a Toscana Milk Paint finish on the base of the table. Milk paint is perfect, though, on chairs or decorative pieces like this. It’s just not best suited for surfaces that are going to be used a whole lot. So, make sure you seal it.

It’s best to seal milk paint with a combination of carnauba and beeswax, which our Light Antique Wax contains. It’s much like the wax I used when I was working in the bodega in Florence, Italy. It has that beautiful amber color from the natural beeswax. The carnauba is the source of hardness in this wax. Bowling alleys are waxed with carnauba because the more you build it up, the harder the surface gets.

Load up your brush and offload. You always want to offload – never go directly onto your piece. Make sure you get good coverage, but don’t apply the wax too heavily.

Amy’s Tip: If you’re waxing a piece of furniture, it would be best to use a round hog hair brush, as you can apply light wax all over the piece much quicker. However, be sure that you don’t use our round hog hair brush for dark wax! You only want to use a little chip brush for that.

ADDING DARK ANTIQUING WAX

HOG HAIR BRUSH — Hog hair bristles are naturally stiff with “splits,” called flags, on the tips that allow the brush to hold more paint. They last longer, are easier to clean, and significantly cut down on painting and waxing time.

DARK ANTIQUE WAX — Dark Wax is the professional finishing touch found on beautiful antique restorations. In combination with Light Wax, Dark Wax adds years of authentic aging found in the Paris Flea Market or your favorite vintage shops.

This special formulation can be used on metal to preserve or enhance patina, as well as on raw or painted wood as protectant or sealer.

A lot of people will have a beautiful finish up to this point, but then they ruin it in seconds with Dark Antique Wax. Make sure that the surface has come to tack, meaning when you touch it, it’s not greasy and it’s not moving around. That’s how you know it’s ready to accept the dark wax. So when our Light Antique Wax has gotten to a point that it’s not greasy and it’s not moving around at all, we’re ready Module 5: Toscana Finishes

65

to add dark wax. I would say, as a rule, wait 30 to 40 minutes at the most before you’re ready to go. If you want to add Dust of Ages, it can’t be completely dry. So you might wait about 20 minutes for that, depending on the air and the circulation in your room.

Take out a new clean chip brush and load it up with some of my Dark Antique Wax with bitumen and carnauba in it. Offload onto cardboard. You don’t want to have too much on your brush, as this is the fastest way to ruin a beautiful finish. However, it can also take it to the next level. When you’re working on lighter finishes, you need even less dark wax. When you’re working on medium value finishes and colors like this, it can bring out a lot of detail very quickly. Remember to always start on the edges, just adding a little bit of accent. Don’t come in at the very center. Start around the edges first with little butterfly kisses here and there. Then sweep across an area or two like you can see me demonstrate in the Module 5 video.

As you work, you can see how it’s gradually building and bringing in that beautiful dark color. Again, I’m not going to pounce into the crevices with dark wax. Dark wax is intended to simulate age and add that to the patina, so it’s only going to be on the top edges. You’re not concerned about getting it down in the crevices at all.

So if you’re working on a chest of drawers, for example, focus around the outside edges and then just barely feather into the center. Take a look at this little chair in the Module 5 video to see how I focused on running my brush across the sides to give it some color. I was not pouncing to get the dark wax down into the legs. I was just going along the edges. So, I’ll finish up this piece and allow it to dry for about 20 to 30 minutes, or longer depending on how much time you have, and then I’ll come back with a lint-free rag and buff it to a beautiful patina.

I’m so happy with how this looks! Remember that it was just this raw little piece.

But now it looks like it’s got a pedigree. You wonder where it’s been used and who’s touched it to feel how beautiful it is. Oil left behind from people’s hands over many, many years would give it the soft, subtle patina that wax can also give you. I hope you had fun using Toscana Milk Paint – don’t forget to mix custom colors yourself! You can become known for creating beautiful new colors with our all-natural pigments. Remember, we don’t use any synthetic pigments our Toscana Milk Paint.

Now, go enjoy the bragging rights.

66

Amy Howard At Home Finishing School

67

Module 6: Layered Milk Paint Finishes

68

Amy Howard At Home Finishing School

— AMY HOWARD AT HOME PRODUCTS YOU’LL NEED — • Walnut Gel Stain • Cracked Gesso • Les Gustavian Toscana Mlk Paint • Noir Toscana Milk Paint

• • • •

Antiquing Glaze Gilding Size Gold Leaf Light Wax

• Artist brush • Gold Leaf • Chip Brushes

OTHER MATERIALS YOU’LL NEED • Natural sea wool sponge

• Four ought steel wool • Containers with a lid

• Lint-free rags • Scissors

69

CREATING A MATTE TOSCANA FINISH Welcome back! In the last module, we went over mixing custom colors Toscana Milk Paint and going through the antiquing process of layering stain, Legno Gesso or Cracked Patina, then our custom color, and, lastly, waxes. Before we get into the lessons of this module, I want to go over another milk paint finish option with you.

You can also create a finish where a lot of the paint is basically washed away by pairing Antiquing Glaze with just one paint color. This piece features our stain and then one color of white paint that I then antiqued. Did you notice that I didn’t come back with the dark wax? I wanted this finish to be very subtle and more matte. I didn’t buff it either. So if you want a more primitive look, all you have to do is use a lighter stain, Cracked Gesso, and then your white milk paint on top of it.

BEGINNING THE LAYERING PROCESS Another thing I want to go over with you is using two colors so that you can see one color just peeking through. This would be similar to the module where we worked with Cracked Patina in two colors. Sart thinking about how you can layer different colors to have different looks. I just love layering with two colors, so I want to show you how to create a look just like this piece I showed you in the Module 6 video. It’s so easy!

You know, what I’m teaching you in this Old World Finishing Course are things that decorative artists do not want you to know. It took me almost 30 years to develop all of the processes I use, patent them, and then create the products I needed because I couldn’t find them in the U.S. I’m making it easy on you to create the same finishes it took me 30 years to create… in just a couple of hours. So I hope you’ll sit back, take copious notes, and really listen as we go over these different finishing options. Notice how diverse these finishes can be and how they could take your decorative artist business to the next level.

On this particular finish, I used a combination of two colors. You can see here where we started out just like with our other Toscana Milk Paint finish. We stained it with our Walnut Gel Stain. If you wanted it a bit lighter, you can wipe it off, or you can keep it darker like this. After drying for about an hour or two, you’re ready for the next step. Go back to the module where I showed you how to mix the 70

Amy Howard At Home Finishing School

Cracked Gesso with water to create this finish that you apply over the stain.

Amy’s Tip: If your Cracked Gesso has holidays, or if it’s not as white as you want it, you can just go on and add a second coat!

PAINTING WITH TOSCANA MILK PAINT

Lightly sand with 400 grit sandpaper. Before we go to the next step, after we add the Legno Gesso, or Cracked Gesso, we’re going to add a color. I love this salmon color. It’s called Les Gustavian, and it will be our first color. So for mixing, it’s all the same as before. We’re mixing one part milk paint to one part water. It’s the same technique that we went through before with our other finish. However, now I want to show you a layering technique.

Amy’s Tip: If you want your Toscana Milk Paint to be a little bit thicker, mix two parts milk paint to one part water.

Next, I’m going to come back with some of my black Noir Toscana Milk Paint.

Module 6: Layered Milk Paint Finishes

71

Remember, this has a shelf life of years and years so you don’t have to worry about it in its dry state. But if you mix it with water, it’s only good for about two weeks. I’m going to take a little bit of my milk paint and put it into my container with a lid.

You can work with a mason jar if you’d like, or a Tupperware container. I’m going to add water with two parts Toscana Milk Paint to one part water. Put your lid on just like we did before and shake it up really well. Now remember, just like my Legno Gesso, or Cracked Gesso, I would like you to make your Toscana Milk Paint the night before your project. The reason for that is because the body of the paint thickens up a little bit. It’s prettier and easier to paint with, and I think you’ll be much happier with the end result. These are just little tips I learned along the way doing this for so many years!

Now you’re going to use another container to strain your paint with a cheesecloth.

There’s foam in this paint right now, but I don’t want to paint with that. So I’m gonna pour all of this out through my cheesecloth. Then simply pull the ends together and throw it away. Another thing to know is that you don’t have to wear gloves when you’re working with this milk-based paint, as it has no VOCs, no chemical compositions, that you have to worry about inhaling, However, I do wear an apron because I wipe my hands on it a lot.

72

Amy Howard At Home Finishing School

Gather a clean chip brush, and use it to keep agitating your paint as you work with it, just like we spoke about in the last module. These paints lack the chemicals that act as anti-separating agents. They are made from very natural ingredients like casein milk protein and limestone. We also want to keep stirring to make sure that we don’t take the paint off the top and leave all the yummy stuff at the bottom. All right, so now I’m just going to paint this over my Les Gustavian. The cool thing is FISSURE CRACK — that when I come back to antique this, The term “fissure crack” it’s going to pull this top layer off and is often used when talking allow that beautiful salmon color to show about natural stone. Fissures through underneath. So we want to make are elongated openings caused by natural forces sure we get 100% coverage all over. Allow acting on the stone. In it to dry for about 15 or 20 minutes, and contrast, a “crack” features then we’ll be ready to antique it. chipping and separation with noticeable unevenness. This terminology also works well USING ANTIQUING GLAZE when speaking about aging furniture!

So now after your milk paint has dried, look at the difference. Before, it was really dark. But remember, this paint will dry back down to the color it was in dry form, before the water made it darker. When it dries back down, it will have a beautiful finish like this. Now we need our Antiquing Glaze, making sure to shake it up just a little bit. As always, we need two bowls – one for water to clean our sponge out and one for the Antiquing Glaze. Remember, our sponge is acting as a negative tool for pulling paint off of the surface. Dip your sponge into your Antiquing Glaze, and remember to work on a horizontal surface.

Amy’s Tip: As a decorative artist for many years, and then as a furniture designer and manufacturer, I always had sample pieces like this piece of trim that I could use to show my clients different finishes. I would really recommend that you go and get some of these trim pieces and write down the process on the back. Something like, “Number one, I stained it. Number two, I applied Cracked Gesso. Number three… etc. That way you can refer back to it when a client asks you what it is and how they could change up the colors.

73

CREATING TEXTURE AND FISSURE CRACKS As you watch me work in the Module 6 video, you’ll notice how I’ll do a pass and get the whole surface wet first. The Antiquing Glaze starts to almost “eat through” this top layer of paint and down to the second layer. I want to be able to get that really pretty, light salmon color coming through. The other thing you’ll start to see is some of that gorgeous gesso that we put on there to make it start to crack. The cracking from the Cracked Gesso that we use with our Toscana Milk Paint is much more of a fissure crack. It’s not a big crack like we get with our Cracked Patina. If you layer maybe three, or even four, coats of that Cracked Gesso, it will flake off and look incredibly rustic. So play around with it! I think you’ll see that the opportunity to make a really authentic looking finish with the Cracked Gesso is pretty amazing.

Now I’m going to dip my clean sponge back into my Antiquing Glaze. I usually try to make sure that I have a lint-free rag next to me so that I can use it to pull the paint. See that yummy color starting to come through? Try to start out a little bit at a time, first getting the edges and then these top areas. Don’t drag it too much, though. It’s more of a pressing and lifting motion. If you drag it, you’ll see scrape marks that are too linear, which is not desirable. When you’re antiquing it, I want you to think about the areas where a piece would have worn down. For a chest of drawers, maybe a hip would have closed the drawer many times over the years. Or maybe on a chair, you can think about where someone’s arms would have rested and even wrapped around the arms, or where legs would have touched the bottom of the chair. Try to make your finish look as authentic as possible. If you love it to look like it’s got a lot of wear to it, then you can do that too. These decisions are more about your preference and your client’s preference, because hopefully, as you’re doing these samples (and if you’re not already a decorative artist), you’ll want to start doing this for other people.

At this point, I might go back into my glaze again and work my way around just a little bit – pressing in, trying to pull it away, and lift it. It’s usually a little bit harder to get it to pull off when using the black paint. And, here again, I don’t want it to be too drastic. I don’t want it to look two-toned. I want it to be very subtle and very authentic looking. We’re going for an 80/20 composition with 80% coverage of

74

Amy Howard At Home Finishing School

your black and 20% showing through where the actual wear is.

Amy’s Tip: If I’m trying to create a look like this on a large armoire, I always make sure that I get five feet away from the piece of furniture that I’m working on to see the composition of the wear I’m doing.

APPLYING GILDING SIZE TO YOUR SURFACE I’m going to let this dry down while I remind you to get fresh water as you work around your piece. It will get very dirty as you are pulling the paint off and cleaning your sponge. You don’t want to continue to work with this water, as it could affect the beautiful patina you’re going to get on this piece. Now you will follow up with your Light Wax, Dark Wax, and Dust of Ages. Be sure to look at the other module where we went over that, because whether you’re doing two colors or a single color, or even a custom color, you need to always seal your Toscana Milk Paint. Now that we’ve gone over the single coating of Toscana Milk Paint, and now that we’ve done two colors, I want to show you something I did on this particular sample. It can make a really big difference if you want to raise the level of this finish even more – and that’s adding some gilding to it.

We’ve done gilding before when we went over polychrome, silver leaf, and copper leaf that was more solid. Here I want to show you a little trick that I’ve come up with over the years that allows you to do a quick and easy distressed looking leaf on your piece. It just makes it come to life. I’ll show you how easy it is. Refer to the Module 6 video to see the comparison between the piece I did earlier, which is not waxed yet, so it’s very dead and flat looking, which will change when I wax it. I’m going to use it to show you how to add just a little bit of detail on here with gold leaf. You need Gilding Size, which is your adhesive, an artist brush like this, Gold Leaf, and some four ought steel wool.

GOLD LEAF — From ancient masterpieces to boutique shop shelves, Gold Leaf fits perfectly into any décor for a pop of glamour just when you need it most.

Perhaps you want to pause for moment before a busy day and enjoy a cup of coffee from your favorite gold-flecked mug. Or maybe you envision a lush piece of wall art reminiscent of the Renaissance Masters. Whatever your style, Gold Leaf is where you want to start the transformation.

Module 6: Layered Milk Paint Finishes

75

Now here’s the trick. A lot of times, people paint a solid coverage of gilding for leaf.

I want you to apply your size to your brush, but then I want you to offload it onto a paper plate or a piece of cardboard, and then hold the brush like I demonstrate in the Module 6 video. The way I want you to lay it down is to roll it. It’s not about getting total coverage. Where you’re going to place your leaf is important – don’t do it everywhere. Less is more can have a big impact. That’s why this piece I’m showing you in the Module 6 video draws my eye to the distressed leaf. The 80/20 rule and your oval eye track still come into play.

THE OVAL EYE TRACK When I talk about oval eye track, it means when you stand away from the piece of furniture that you’re working on, or the cabinet door, or even a sample, your eye should come to one area. This is usually the left-hand corner. So you need distressing that takes your eye over to the right-hand corner, down to the lower right, and then again to the left. This creates the oval eye track. When you look at it, there shouldn’t be any one area that jumps out at you. If it does, you need to add a little bit more paint, which is very easy with milk paint.

For example, let’s say you’re distressing and you pull too much off, so there’s an area that almost looks like a gash in your finish. Don’t worry, it’s a very easy fix. All you need to do is dip your finger into the milk paint, dab it on where needed, and allow it to dry. When you wax it, you’ll never see it. So it’s all fixable!

APPLYING GOLD LEAF TO YOUR SURFACE I’m going to dip my brush back into my size, offload it, and roll it on there. Again, I’m not going to apply it onto the top part of the piece. I just want to have a little detail down here. Now remember, you must always allow this to come to tack. So I need to let this dry for a minute. I’m going to fan it while we talk about which leaf colors go with which finishes. When you’ve got a dark brown or a black, it’s really pretty to do gold. Silver can also be pretty on gold, but your grays are especially pretty with silver. Copper can look great on browns. You just have to play with it and see what your preference is.

Unlike the really small sterling silver that we worked with earlier, this gold leaf is a 76

Amy Howard At Home Finishing School

Dutch metal leaf composition. It’s going to come with 25 pages in a book. See how it has a spine? That’s why we call it a book. And it has pages as well, which you want to trim now, as we don’t want to work with the entire book. Because this is a small section that I’m gilding here, I’m just going to hold the spine in place and cut a little piece. Put the rest of the book back into your cardboard packaging.

Amy’s Tip: Keep the packaging that you receive with our leaf booklets. These stayflats will keep your books nice and protected.

I’ve got 25 pages here, as you can see in the Module 6 video. As I hold the spine of my book, I’m going to pull back this protective tissue paper and lay the sheet of leaf down on top of my size. Make sure the size always comes to tack before you lay down the leaf. Otherwise, this will never dry. You’ve got to make sure that you’ve got tack – touch it with your ring finger to check before you’re ready to lay down your leaf. Again, like we did before. we’ll lay down another sheet. But we won’t but it up next to this previous one, but instead we will overlap it. So I’ll pull this tissue away again, holding my leaf underneath in place, and then overlap. See how I’m not butting up? Now, when you’re working with Dutch metal leaf, you can just pull the tissue pages away and set them to the side. Remember again the importance of burnishing. The more you burnish – the more pressure you put on the leaf with the tissue – the prettier the leaf is going to look. So I’m putting on a lot of pressure.

At this point, I am going to use a clean chip brush to clean it off. But first, I’m just going to burnish it one more time. I want to make sure that it’s really pressed into that paint, into that size. Now we will move on to using our chip brush. As a rule, if I want a smooth surface, I’ll brush in one direction. But here I want a very distressed looking finish. So I’m just going to take my brush and go against the gilding. It’s almost like I’m cleaning off the excess with an angled, pouncing motion as seen in the Module 6 video.

Now I’m going to come back with my four ought steel wool and press down. This step helps make gilding look more like it is all from another time, and like this was piece was maybe even entirely gilded. You just want to give a suggestion that this leaf was there. When you’re working with Old World finishes like this, it’s important to make sure the edges of your furniture are more rounded. If you’re a furniture maker and you are working on brand new pieces, round those edges with an electric Module 6: Layered Milk Paint Finishes

77

sander or a heavier grit sandpaper. You don’t want perfect edges, because a truly old piece would have been worn down over a period of time. It is the same principle for your gold leaf. So I’m just leaving a “suggestion” here. Don’t you love how that can totally change the look of that finish?

FINISHING OFF WITH WAX

We’ve worn down our leaf, so we’re ready to add a little bit of Light Wax. Load up from your wax puck and then offload. As you work, I want you to really look at how dead, flatt Toscana Milk Paint finish is going to come to life even more. Can you see that? Wow! There’s nothing like it. Being in the furniture finishing world and looking at finishes on antiques, and even in the high point furniture market, no one ever had pieces that looked like this because it’s a little bit more laborious. It takes time. You’ve got to be able to have a beautiful composition, but it was also all about to the tools. The products needed to create finishes that looked like this just weren’t out there. I hope you’re excited about how this can transform your decorative artist business, as well as the way you see furniture and how you refinish it from here on out.

78

Amy Howard At Home Finishing School

79

Module 7: Venetian Plaster Finishes Welcome to the plaster portion of the Old World Finishes course. I’m excited to show you my Venetian plaster, because it’s unlike any other on the market. The majority of other plasters have chemicals in them that provide for a long shelf life.

However, ours is in a powder form. All you have to do is add water, mix it to a sour cream consistency, and then use it on furniture, walls, floors, a lot of different surfaces. It’s easy to work with, almost like painting with butter! In the Module 7 video, I’m going to show you how to create a finish like this, as well as how to mix plaster with Toscana Milk Paint and apply colors on top of it.

80

Amy Howard At Home Finishing School

— AMY HOWARD AT HOME PRODUCTS YOU’LL NEED — • Amy Howard at Home Venetian Plaster

• Scandinavian Gray Toscana Milk Paint

• Chip brush

OTHER MATERIALS YOU’LL NEED • Containers with lids • Metal trowel

81

MIXING VENETIAN PLASTER So in this particular lesson, I’m going to start with raw oak. It has a really high grain, and that will make a really beautiful finish that you can do on a piece of furniture, floors, or walls. Start by taking out a little bit of my Venetian Plaster. In its dry form, it will be good forever. And believe it or not, if you keep it closed up after mixing it with water, it will last for years. Unlike milk paint that we can only keep for two weeks in the refrigerator once it’s mixed, this will last forever. Now I’m going to add just a little bit of warm water, which helps it mix just a little bit easier than cold water does. Mix it until it has the consistency of sour cream. I’m going to add just a little bit more water as I continue to mix this up. I don’t want it to get too terribly thin, but I don’t want it to be too thick, either.

Amy’s Tip: A lot of people don’t realize it, but you can tint this plaster with the Toscana Milk Paint. Because we use natural, not synthetic, pigments, it can be quite beautiful!

It looks a little thick, so I’m going to add just a little bit more water and then I think we’ll be done. There are no VOCs in my Venetian Plaster, so you don’t have to worry about bad chemicals. However, it does have a little bit of lime in it, so it can have a tendency to dry out. your skin. Once I’m happy with the consistency, I’ll make sure that its stirred up really well without lumps.

Next, I’m going to take my chip brush and brush the plaster onto my surface. One really cool thing is that plaster loves metal. When you will burnish this plaster with the metal later on, it will create a beautiful sheen. Now, I can tell this as a little lumpy, so I need to mix it just a little bit more. I don’t want those lumps in it. Once you brush it on like this, allow it to sit for just a minute, because we’re going to be doing a “pulling through” action with the plaster. Put the top back on it so that you can use this for some other samples we’ll be working on Amy’s Tip: I even use this plaster on paintings! It’s endless in the versatility of it, but you won’t see the same benefits if you use other plasters that might be on the shelf in the hardware store. You must use true Italian Venetian Plaster to get these looks.

82

Amy Howard At Home Finishing School

APPLYING VENETIAN PLASTER After it sits there for just a minute, gather a metal trowel. Remember, plaster loves metal! As its burnished, that friction allows molecules in this plaster to come to life.

It starts to have a beautiful sheen because it has marble dust. A lot of people ask, “Why does Venetian plaster have that beautiful TROWEL — sheen when you burnish it?” There’s actual A small handheld tool with a flat, pointed blade, marble dust in it! The composition of used to apply and spread this product is very simple. It’s made of mortar or plaster. only three things: marble dust, lime, and calcium carbonate, which is chalk. Chalk has been used forever. When you go back to the reason they created Venetian plaster, it’s because they had a water problem.

They had mildew, so they needed something for the walls, floors, and columns that would fight against mildew. A lot of people don’t realize that you can mix this, put it on the walls in your bathroom or shower, and it will act as a water repellent just like actual marble or ceramic tiles. The versatility of this product is endless! Venetian plaster is one of my favorite things to work with when I’m working on furniture.

Module 7: Venetian Plaster Finishes

83

Now I’m going to take my metal trowel. Look at how I’m holding it at about a 45 degree angle (see Module 7). I’m using quite a bit of pressure. I’m holding it so that my two fingers – my index finger and my middle finger – can pivot so that I’m always pressing down on this evenly so that as I’m pulling it, I’m raking it across.

This method will drag and pull that wood through. Make sure that you’ve got something you can offload the plaster onto, like a rag or a piece of cardboard. Clean that trowel off. When you’re applying plaster to wood, especially if you’re working with a trowel, place a five-gallon bucket beside you with a wet rag floating in the water. Use this to constantly clean the trowel, because if you don’t have the friction of the metal on the plaster you won’t achieve as pretty a finish. Holding the trowel and scraping it through, you can take off a little bit more of the plaster off, as it will look more solid when it dries. But we don’t want it to look like solid white plaster.

Amy’s Tip: Rotate your surface as you work so that you can apply appropriate pressure all over your surface.

In order to create this finish, you need to work on a high grain wood, like oak. It’s always best to start with the raw wood. Remember, it’s going to dry down much whiter, and give us a finish that looks like this (refer to the Module 7 video to compare these samples). After it’s completely dry, come back with your clean trowel and listen to how it sounds when you scrape it across the surface. Can you hear it sing when you lift up your trowel? Listen as you burnish. It should sound like ice skating 84

Amy Howard At Home Finishing School

skating. Your finish will start to get a really pretty, natural sheen, which might be hard to see in the video. Again, remember that this is not about extremes. This is about creating finishes that look Old World, worn over many years, and authentically aged.

MIXING VENETIAN PLASTER WITH TOSCANA MILK PAINT This is such a beautiful finish, and it actually looks very on-trend for today’s looks.

As another option, you can do double layering with Toscana Milk Paint, which can add more interest. Now remember, not all Venetian plasters are alike. I created all of these products to be married and switched in and out, which gives you a lot of versatility. So now, I’m going to take a little bit of my Venetian plaster and put it into a new clean container. You might be thinking, “She just made some plaster. Why doesn’t she just add it to it?” You must mix plaster and milk paint together in its raw, dry state or it’s not going to work – it would be lumpy and you’d never get it blended. So I’m going to take the plaster and mix it really well with my milk paint.

I’m already starting to see the sheen on that and I’m loving it! Add just a little bit of water and work towards getting the consistency of sour cream. So I’m being careful, adding just a little bit at a time.

Amy’s Tip: If you add too much water, simply add a little bit more powder. You want it to be fairly thick!

Mixing the milk paint with Venetian plaster allows me to be able to color this in a way that will still create the effect we want. You should not add One Step Paint to the plaster to achieve this look. Next, take your brush and blend it to make sure that it’s mixed up really well. Then, offload the brush a little bit and apply the mixture directly on top of the white plaster we were just working on. Cover the surface completely, but don’t worry! We are going to pull it through.

Amy’s Tip: For this finish, I will always go from light to dark. You don’t really want to go from dark to light, as that would look like malted milk balls!

Module 7: Venetian Plaster Finishes

85

You can use the technique I’m showing you to create multiple layers. Just be sure to start with a light color and layer up to the darker colors. In the Module 7 video, you can see me giving this just a minute to set up, as it will dry a little bit faster than the last application did. Then, pull it through, cleaning as you go with your rag. This technique gives you just a little bit of detail and coloring. I love how it will kind of how this chattering in it. Now, I don’t want to totally get rid of all of the dark gray, so be mindful of the look as you go along. Imagine how beautiful this would be on the top of a farmhouse table, maybe painting the bottom dark gray. It just gives you so much depth and is really beautiful.

Once it’s dry, come back and burnish it with your metal trowel. The great thing about this finish is that you don’t have to wax it. You can just burnish it, and if any condensation from a glass or anything like that gets on it, you can just wipe it right up. Allow this to dry for a good 30 or 45 minutes. Then, come back and continue to burnish it until you get a sheen you’re happy with. Now I can put drinks on it and I don’t have to worry about it from here on out. It’s going to wear and look even more beautiful with each passing day.

86

Amy Howard At Home Finishing School

87

Module 8: Distressed Venetian Plaster Finishes Welcome to the segment of our course where you will work with Venetian plaster and milk paint to do multi-layered finishes. We will also start working with stencils.

As you can already tell, I love working with Venetian plaster and Toscana Milk Paint because it really opens up a whole new world of finishes. You’re not going to be happy with a regular chalk-based finish on your furniture anymore. When you see the possibilities for how these techniques can take your piece of furniture to the next level, you’ll never be the same again. I’m sharing with you the 30 years I spent developing these secrets and techniques because I want to help you elevate your art, your furniture finishing, and even the wall and floor finishes in your home.

88

Amy Howard At Home Finishing School

— AMY HOWARD AT HOME PRODUCTS YOU’LL NEED — • Amy Howard at Home Venetian Plaster

• Scandinavian Gray Toscana Milk Paint

• Chip brush

OTHER MATERIALS YOU’LL NEED • Containers with lids • Metal trowel

• Water • Lint-free rags

89

CREATING LAYERED PLASTER FINISHES In Module 7, we mixed together Venetian plaster and Scandinavian Gray Toscana Milk. Remember to always mix them in dry form before you add water. This time we will mix it the same way, except that we want the consistency of a paste without it being too clumpy. The consistency is much thicker, more like a plaster itself would be. The first application I did completely covered my board with plaster.

Now, you can do this on your furniture as well. However, if you’re doing this finish on a piece of furniture, paint it with One Step Paint first. It will act as a primer if you’re going over an existing finish Of course, it’s great if you have someone that makes furniture for you, or if you can get raw furniture, because that would be even easier to work with. In the Module 8 video, you’ll notice how I took white Venetian plaster in the same consistency as our Module 7 mixture (sour cream consistency), troweled it on, and allowed it to dry.

Amy’s Tip: On this sample, the plaster is acting as a base coat for our finish. However, if you’re doing this on an existing piece, make sure you’ve used One Step Paint first as a primer. One Step Paint is a great binder for making finishes like this look more authentic.

90

Amy Howard At Home Finishing School

Take the paste you made with Scandinavian Gray and plaster and apply it over the white plaster with your metal trowel. You want to get a pretty solid coating. This is why we want our mixture in a paste form. It’s much thicker, like how plaster usually would be. Again, I love working on these samples. It allows you to create some versatility in putting these finishes together. When I worked with clients, I always pulled out my “bag of tricks,” which was my finishes, and have on the back of them the one, two, three of what I did. I was able to show them examples and they would say, “Oh, I love that,” or, “That could be great on our walls,” or, “That would be great on this piece.”

Amy’s Tip: A lot of people don’t realize that we throw away 28 million tons – not pieces – 28 million tons of furniture in the US every year. When you show others how you can rescue and restore instead, you contribute to ending this vast amount of waste.

In case you don’t remember, in the last module I talked about cleaning the trowel with water. You want to make sure that the plaster doesn’t dry on there. Often, I’ll have a little five-gallon paint bucket that I immerse my trowel into to keep it clean.

Make sure you keep it clean, or it will hinder you from getting a really pretty sheen on your plaster.

Amy’s Tip: Be careful of the sharp edges of your trowel that can easily cut your hand when you’re flicking this and trying to build up your plaster finish. It can cut your hand really badly, so please be very careful!

BURNISHING AND DISTRESSING Next, start coming through and burnishing it as you see it start to dry. Sometimes, I’ll take my trowel and dig in, as demonstrated in the Module 8 video, and wiggle it back and forth a little. You can see how it’ll start to pull that plaster up, and then I pull back down again. I’m just pulling that color away, but every time I do that, I burnish it a little bit more. As you repeat these motions, you’ll start to see the sheen coming through. It feels so smooth when you touch it, and it wears really well. Many people think that these are really pristine finishes that you have to be really careful with, but that isn’t true. With milk paint finishes, yes, but these plaster finishes are incredibly hardy.

Module 8: Distressed Venetian Plaster Finishes

91

As you can see in this video, I’m going around the edges now because that’s where it a piece would have been worn over the years. This makes a great backdrop for a piece of art if you were to paint on top of this. It’s just so beautiful. Observe how I’m scraping it off like this at a 45 degree angle. I did not allow my plaster to dry completely. If you allow it to dry completely, you can’t move it like this. It must be somewhat moist as you start pulling it through and distressing it.

Amy’s Tip: If you pull off some areas a little too much, remember the 80/20 rule again. Just make sure you like the entire composition of it, and stay away from distressing in the very center of your board.

I’m gonna come back through and continue to f burnish this. I want to see a sheen start to come through, and I’ll start to see my raw wood. When I’ve got an area like this that’s really large and distressed, I need to think about the oval eye track, or the 80/20 rule, so I’m going to have to distress it just a little bit more over here, as you can see in the Module 8 video. You’ll notice a very strong example of the 80/20 rule on this other sample piece. I’ve got 80% coverage, and about 15 to 20% that’s distressed with the white and the stains showing through. Each finish is going to be totally different, and your decisions really depend on the piece you’re working on. Notice in this module’s video how, as I’m blending and burnishing the piece, it pulls plaster into other areas. It starts to meld and mix into two or three different colors. So it looks like years and years have gone by and all these colors continTRUMEAU MIRROR — ued to change.

A pier glass or trumeau mirror is a mirror which is placed I don’t know about you, but if you’ve on a pier, i.e. a wall between ever been to Round Top or one of those two windows supporting an upper structure. antique shows, you might look up and see a trumeau mirror that looks like this. When I see those I’m going, “Gene, oh my gosh. Honey, we’ve got to have that mirror because it looks so authentic!”

That’s what this course can do for your own work!

As we complete this finish, continue to work with your composition and burnish it. I can already see some antique mirror sitting inside of this trumeau. It’s going to be awesome. Allow this to dry, come back, and burnish it a little bit more until 92

Amy Howard At Home Finishing School

you’re happy with the sheen that you have from it. Then you can simply wipe it off with a rag. I would not add any wax because this has created a really hardy plaster finish that would look spectacular on a piece of furniture, on a trumeau, or even on a wall!

TRUMEAU — A section of wall or a pillar between two openings, especially a pillar dividing a large doorway in a church.

Module 8: Distressed Venetian Plaster Finishes

93

Module 9: Plastering with Stencils Welcome to the section of our course where we’re going over how to plaster with stencils. A lot of you have probably worked with stencils before and you’ve worked with plaster before. Now we’re going to make those collide so you can see how cool this technique is – it’s almost like embossing. Remember that you can use plaster on your walls.

So if you like this technique, you can take a specific stencil and use this technique on an area behind your kitchen, a cooktop, or in a bathroom. This isn’t just for furniture. It can be used in a lot of different areas. However, I love using it on furniture because it really takes it to the next level.

94

Amy Howard At Home Finishing School

— AMY HOWARD AT HOME PRODUCTS YOU’LL NEED — • Amy Howard at Home Venetian Plaster

• Scandinavian Grey Toscana Milk Paint

• Amy Howard at Home Stencils

OTHER MATERIALS YOU’LL NEED • Metal trowel

95

CHOOSING A STENCIL In the Module 9 video, you can see a piece of trim that I’ve done. It’s the kind of sample we would show to our clients, or even use ourselves, when making decisions about how to refinish a piece. I laid down an adhesive stencil directly on top of my plaster, which allows me to have a little detail. You might choose to have a plaster piece on the drawers, or maybe a whole damask design, or even letters. There are a lot of stencils you can use. However, I would not use a mesh stencil. For this finish, a stencil with a cutout is ideal, like one of our mylar stencils or an adhesive one like this.

96

MYLAR STENCILS — Amy Howard at Home Mylar Furniture Stencils give you the opportunity to add an artistic element to your furniture and accents without any drawing or painting skills. Use them to create eye catching patterns and designs on almost any surface.

Amy Howard At Home Finishing School

STENCILING WITH PLASTER We will start out the same way be did earlier when we mixed up our plaster, did the distressing technique with plaster and milk paint. After creating that beautiful finish, we were here in the studio talking about how great it would be on sliding barn doors in your home or around a fireplace. There are a lot of ways to use that finish.

Next, take your trowel again and load up this thicker plaster. I’ve laid down my stencil, and as I apply this, I want to be careful because I don’t want to get it onto the outside. Be sure to lay plaster down just where the pattern is on the stencil. Put the plaster on fairly thick. You don’t want the runny composition. We want it to be like the thicker one we just did. Once it’s laid on, gently pull off your stencil as demonstrated in the Module 9 video.

Now I’ve got this beautiful design! Remember, it’s going to dry down much lighter than the actual color that it is now in the video. After about 30 minutes or so, once it’s come to tack, continue to burnish it with your metal trowel. Burnishing allows the plaster to “pop,” and you will start to see a beautiful sheen with such a beautiful, raised embossed look. You can do this on cabinet doors in your kitchen, on a piece of furniture, or your walls. I just love it!

Module 9: Plastering with Stencils

97

Module 10: Aged Wood Finishes Welcome to the section of our course on turning new wood into something that looks old and salvaged – in two easy steps! Have you ever wanted to create wood that looks like it was already a couple of hundred years old in just minutes? It’s been almost impossible before, but now we have a solution for you. I’m excited to show you a technique that I developed for my floors. However, you can very easily use this on furniture, too. In fact, I’ve used it on furniture that I found at my favorite little antique mall.

98

Amy Howard At Home Finishing School

— AMY HOWARD AT HOME PRODUCTS YOU’LL NEED — • Vintage Wood Mercantile Better With Age

• Vintage Wood Mercantile Cerusing Wax

• Chip brush

OTHER MATERIALS YOU’LL NEED • Lint-free rag

• Four ought steel wool

• Stir stick

99

USING BETTER WITH AGE In this module, I’m going to show you how to take regular wood, raw oak in this case, and distress and age it with the tannins in the wood. The important factor to remember here is that most woods don’t have as many tannins as oak does. You have to work with heavily tannined woods like oak, mahogany, cherry, walnut, and even birch will work sometimes. HowTANNINS — ever, pine does not have as many tannins Any of various soluble astrinin it that you need to create this finish. gent complex phenolic substances of plant origin used So let’s stay with woods that have a lot especially in tanning leather of tannins in them. Oak is one of my and dyeing textiles, manufacfavorites, and you know what’s great? turing ink, clarifying wine and beer, and in medicine.

Most of us, if we have hardwood floors, have oak floors because it’s a hardwood.

It’s not a softwood, so it takes wear and tear very well. A lot of the pieces you’ll find in antique malls and at estate sales and garage sales are made from oak. You can do this finish on them, but you must start with raw wood.

The first thing we’re going to use is Better With Age and our cerusing wax. You need to make sure stir the Better With Age up really well. I usually keep a little stir stick in my container so that I can continue to agitate it as I work. It doesn’t have chemicals in it that work as anti-separating agents, so all the yummy stuff has CERUSING WAX — a tendency to fall to the bottom. So we Amy Howard at Home want to make sure it’s always stirred up.

Vintage Wood Mercantile CeNext, take a chip brush and put it into rusing Wax is formulated to protect your finishes and give the Better With Age solution. Allow it them the rich depth we love to “draw up” as much as possible. Then in a well-worn antique. This soft, buttery wax squeezes apply it to your surface fairly thick. onto metal or wood surfaces and hardens to a clear satin You might be asking yourself, “How patina. It pairs perfectly with your stained, painted, and raw is this going to turn the wood to a wood pieces to protect and beautiful gray color?” The answer is that seal with a vintage sheen. this solution works with the tannins in 100

Amy Howard At Home Finishing School

the wood to age it. This is not a stain. You cannot get the same look with a stain.

I’m wanting it to turn a particularly beautiful gray color that looks like it’s been sun bleached from laying in the yard for a long, long time. There are no VOCs in this solution, so you don’t have to worry about that. After your surface dries for about an hour, you’re ready for the next step. Look what a beautiful finish we have! In just one hour, you’ve gone from raw wood to this beautiful dark gray color.

Amy’s Tip: Test out different looks for the particular wood you’re working on by comparing different ratios. Try out one part water and one part Better With Age. Then work your way up to something like two parts Better With Age and one part water. Eventually, you get to the full strength application. Then you can lay them all out and see the different levels of gray that the raw wood could turn into.

Module 10: Aged Wood Finishes

101

WAXING YOUR AGED WOOD I love this color, but it’s gonna be even better in combination with Vintage Wood Mercantile Cerusing Wax. You’ll remember that in one of the earlier modules of this course, we made our own custom wax. We saw how you can take our squeezable wax and mix it with One Step Paint to make custom wax colors. However, this wax is already mixed with calcium carbonate, or chalk, for you. It allows us to be able to get a cerusing look. Now, maybe you’re thinking, “I’ve never heard of cerusing.

Where did that come from?” Let’s go back to the 17th century, when it was in vogue to have a very white complexion because of working outside as laborers. So they would take a paste with mercury in it and slather that cerusing paste all over their skin. It would bleach their skin, but also their eyebrows and hair would fall out! That’s when people started painting on eyebrows and adding the first hair extensions. I just wanted to tell you that because I love the historical stories from my art history days and learning where certain things originated.

Let’s see what the cerusing wax will look like on this beautiful gray finish. Squeeze out just a little bit onto your surface. You can brush it on or spread it on with some four ought steel wool, which is what I use in the Module 10 video. This is a really easy finish to create, and all your friends are going to say, “Oh, I could never do that. It’s too difficult!” But you’re going to be able to tell them otherwise.

102

Amy Howard At Home Finishing School

Make sure that you go against the grain as you spread the cerusing wax around.

When you do that, it gets it down into that beautiful high grain that you find on oak. So make sure you go against it rather than always keeping with the grain. Next, come back and just very lightly brush across your surface with horizontal strokes.

Then lightly move across your surface with circular motions. It’s so beautiful!

BUFFING AN AGED WOOD FINISH After it sets for about 15 or 20 minutes, you can buff it with a lint-free rag to give it a beautiful sheen. The great thing about oak is that it will often have different grains on each piece. So when they’re put together, it can be really outstanding. Hopefully you enjoyed this part of working with our Vintage Wood Mercantile products.

Just remember, make sure to work with woods like oak and walnut that have a lot of tannins in them. You’re going to be amazed at how easily you can get this Old World finish in just a few minutes!

Module 10: Aged Wood Finishes

103

AMYHOWARDATHOME.COM 104

Amy Howard At Home Finishing School