MAGIC MURALS

Michael Holigan: Earlier in the show we talked about how you could wake up your white walls with some painting techniques. Now we've got a great method where you can trace and paint and it's perfect for the artistically challenged. Tell me, what are you doing?

Debbie Davis: I am tracing over a design. I might...it's like going back to kindergarten. This is a brand new product from Accent (800-346-3278) called Magic Mural Tracers, and you literally just trace over a pre-shaded design and it draws a picture on your surface for you.

M.H.: So you don't have to be an artist?

D.D.: You don't have to. You want me to show you what it looks like underneath?

M.H.: Yeah, I'd like to see it.

D.D.: This is so cool. This is like painting by numbers for grown ups. Look at this. It draws a picture for you, and it's a dimensional picture.

M.H.: And it looks great, and you just traced the whole picture?

D.D.: I traced the whole thing, because this tool allows you to create a three dimensional transfer. And what's neat is that the patterns are not printed onto a carbon paper, so it's not messy to use or anything. This is a patented non-smear paper.

M.H.: Yeah, and we have no smudges on the wall.

D.D.: No smudges on the wall, it doesn't smear when you paint it or anything like that. But it's erasable, just like pencil would be, and reusable.

M.H.: That's excellent.

D.D.: That's pretty cool.

M.H.: Okay, so now we can actually paint it?

D.D.: We can paint it.

M.H.: Okay.

D.D.: Ready?

M.H.: Yeah.

D.D.: Let's go.

M.H.: What kind of paint is this, Debbie?

D.D.: Well, I use Accent Acrylic paint, but you can, if you use oils, you can use, like, Grumbacher oils or whatever. The reason I like acrylic paints is because they dry real fast. I like to do things quick.

M.H.: Yeah, always a benefit.

D.D.: Yeah, always a benefit. Plus, it's real inexpensive too. Now, to paint, this is just like painting by numbers, and what's really cool about this is, you don't have to use two even coats of paint. You're not house painting here. You're just painting really kind of sloppy and globby and uneven, which is great, because that's how I paint.

M.H.: That's my style too.

D.D.: Yeah, sloppy, globby and uneven.

M.H.: After you dipped it into the paint, you dipped the brush in the water, how come?

D.D.: Well, I did that because when you dip your paintbrush into water when you're painting, it makes your paint more transparent, so therefore, you can see all your transfer lines through it, and when you go to paint your wood grain, you know exactly where to paint it. No freehand anything. No guesswork. See, no fancy brush strokes, I'm just filling in the blanks with paint.

M.H.: It doesn't look too difficult.

D.D.: No, it's not.

M.H.: How many patterns are there?

D.D.: There are 24 different patterns that have just a bunch of designs. And if I can give you an idea, one Magic Mural pattern can have up to 30 different designs on it.

M.H.: And you did say they're reusable.

D.D.: They're reusable up to 8 different times, so that's pretty cool. Now look, I'm going to put my light color right here, because that's where my light color goes. There are color symbols printed on the pattern that you can look at, plus there's a color picture on the pattern too, to look at too. Now I'm going to show you a trick, what I call cheater's blending. I'm going to take some of this brown color, and I'm just going to kind of mush it into this lighter color here, and the reason you do that is to kind of soften the hard lines that you get with painting by numbers.

M.H.: Yeah, blends it all together.

D.D.: Now Michael, what I want you to do is paint along this wood grain right here. It's real simple, and you can be real uneven. And while you do that I'm going to paint all these little dark areas right here.

M.H.: It does make it a lot easier with lines drawn on there.

D.D.: Now, a real easy way to highlight is to do what I call feather dusting. And all you have to do is take a little bit of white paint, put it on a paper plate, or your hand. Take your paint brush, dip it in the white paint and then wipe a lot of the white paint off, until your paintbrush feels dry, that's why I call it feather dusting. And then, you just simply feather dust a little white paint over your design.

M.H.: And decorating your walls is just the beginning. You can use the Tracers on your furniture, and even paint what looks like furniture on your walls. The patterns are available at most crafts stores and cost between $5 to $10.

Episode 31 1996 - 97 Season

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