Fresco Walls

Michael Holigan: Today we have a different finish for your wall; and we're back with Penny to follow her example of starting with a small sample and today I believe we're going to do a fresco finish.

Penny Sanders: That's right Mike. First of all, we've purchased an inexpensive burlap. Now you can use any color you want, but we like a neutral because we really don't want burlap on this particular finish to be what we see. We just wanted a ground. What we're going to do, is we're going to take joint compound and you're going to smooth it over the burlap in nice long strokes and you don't have to be careful. I mean, you could do this Mike. It's not a big deal at all.

M.H.: Oh, even I can do it. Right?

P.S.: Even you can do it. Here we go. It's like cooking. Just roll out your batter and frost your cake.

M.H.: And this is normal joint compound that you use for sheetrock.

P.S.: Absolutely. When it gets on the table it'll wash off. Look, I'm doing it very irregularly. I'm leaving my edges so I can pick it up and put it outside to dry. Because if you're doing a wall, most of your pieces will be about twice this size. But for the sake of demonstration, we're just using it this way.

M.H.: And how thick do you put the joint compound on the burlap?

P.S.: I'm going to say it varies between a twelfth of an inch to an eighth of an inch.

M.H.: So pretty thin.

P.S.: But just a long as you can't see the burlap anymore, but it's all right if you miss a few spots. That'll look good too.

M.H.: Okay, and the how long to dry?

P.S.: Well, it depends on your weather, usually overnight will do. And if it's a little thicker sometimes it takes a few days.

M.H.: Okay. What's next?

P.S.: Now, what we've done, is we brought smaller pieces inside from drying. I've cut these and you can see as they're larger on a wall, they balance like a piece of pizza dough. Now you take your panel and what you're going to do is you're going to gently roll it. And what this rolling does, is it cracks it.

M.H.: So that's intentional.

P.S.: That's right. That's right. You can cover all your mistakes this way. After you've got some nice cracks, see it looks like it's been in Europe for thousands of years.

M.H.: What happens where the piece came all the way off and you can see the burlap now?

P.S.: We'll call that one of those good mistakes.

M.H.: Okay. We're going to fix that.

P.S.: No, we're not going to fix it. We're going to work with it.

M.H.: Okay.

P.S.: And it'll be better for it. Now, flip your burlap over and I want you to help me with this. Take a brush and we're going to use some vinyl adhesive, any kind of high quality vinyl adhesive will work that puts up heavy wall paper, and just paint it on real thick. Put a little bit on your wall to create a tack like this and then you put it on your pizza pie. And when you lift it up in a few minutes, you're going to let this sit. I'd read the instructions on the vinyl. Because what it'll do is it'll say maybe wait 10 minutes, 20 minutes, and follow your instructions. And then you're going to lay it on your wall, and just place it and it'll stick and it will not fall off, okay. You think it will because remember these are heavy panels. Now as you'll notice here, we've got a joint. If we were doing a linear wall, you would want those line to show, but on the house that we're going to go see, we cut this very irregularly, then we came back with our joint compound and we carefully...just moosh a lit tle bit of joint compound on there Mike. It's all right to cover a little bit of this up because it's going to all dry the same. Then after it's dried, give it another day and sand it down a little bit. This is one of our finished products. Now, the reason these lines show up a little bit, is for you to see we glazed this. I'm going to put another glaze on it and show you exactly how we did it.

M.H.: Okay, and where do you get the glaze from?

P.S.: Well, a glaze is a color mixed with a glazing liquid that can be found at any good paint store.

M.H.: Okay.

P.S.: There's acrylic, and there's oil base. We like to use oil base because it gives us a little more mobility, but for a lot of home uses I would go ahead and use the acrylic, especially if your walls aren't too large. Remember, your water base is always going to dry faster. So, oil base gives you more movement time. Now, we're going to put this glaze on our frescoed wall and we're going to rub it off. And what that is going to do, is it goes into the cracks, so all that cracked area that we rolled the wall is going to show nicely and this looks like the walls have been seeping in Europe for centuries. What I'm going to do is I'm going to take a little bit of hobby paint and just put a little trellis of ivy. As you can see, I'm just kinda being messy with this, but that's part of the fun. Now if I don't like it, I just erase it with a damp cloth. In fact, let me show you how. A lot of times people are just afraid to try because they think they're going to ruin something. See, if you don't like it, just take it off.

M.H.: Just take it off.

P.S.: That's right.

M.H.: Is there a easy, just took a few days. Let's go see one though that's totally done. Penny this looks spectacular. How long did it take to do a project like this?

P.S.: Oh, thanks. Well, we were here about a month and, of course, what we wanted to do was have it to look like we were here for centuries.

M.H.: Penny, recap the steps that it takes.

P.S.: Sure Mike. First of all, you have to purchase your burlap, take joint compound and place it on the burlap smoothly moving it over and letting it dry. Then you roll your pieces so you get a nice cracked look. Then, you're going to place your, what we call the pizzas, on the wall using an adhesive. Then, that is going to dry on your wall and then you're ready to glaze, to do washes, to do art work, whatever you want to as an artist.

M.H.: And remember Penny's rules. Try this on a small sample before you go do it in your entry way. Thanks Penny.

P.S.: You're welcome.

Episode 022 1995 - 96 Season

| Security System | Electrical Testers | Home Entertainment Systems | Fresco Walls | Locking Your Interest Rate | LIST |

To order a Video Tape, call 1-800-TO-BUILD and ask for Episode #022.