Please call or email me. Please call or email me.

A 4th generation house painter & consultant,
specializing in
old-world painting techniques.

Two Essential Faux Glazes

For textured or untextured walls.

There are two basic types of faux glazing techniques you can use: Old World "Tuscan" style glazes and European glazes.

Tuscan glazes look best works best on semi-heavy  to heavy textured walls. European glazes work best on smooth to semi-heavy textured walls.

Buy Now! Click to purchase my European or Tuscan faux kit.

Faux Painting Tool Kits

Learn to faux with European and Tuscan Glaze Kits

Compare the Two Glazes

Tuscan Glazes

Tuscan glazes, also known as old world glazes, work best on walls that are semi-heavy to thickly textured. They look particularly good in wine cellars, cozy living areas, and other areas where you want to achieve the feeling of old-world warmth and comfort.

If you want to create an old-world look similar to what's shown in the picture below, then you would want to first texture your walls. I suggest you use my Texturizing Toolkit, which has all the instructions and tools you'll need to both texture your walls and apply the Tuscan Glaze finish.

If you already have thickly textured walls, you might be interested only in my Tuscan Glaze DVD.

European Glazes

A European Glaze works best on smooth to semi-heavy textured walls. It's very similar to a color wash style, but the addition of a glaze is what gives the finished look its marbelized effect.

You can achieve a wide range of looks using European glazes, depending on the colors you use and the amount of glaze you add to your paints. Mostly however, done correctly, European glazes will give your walls a sense of motion and excitement. Applying a European glaze is really a great way to wake up your walls!

I suggest you take a look at my European Glaze DVD which shows you step-by-step how to mix and apply a European glaze.

Glaze ExamplesCompare the differences in these glazes

Tips

Tuscan Glazing

Here are a few tips that relate specifically to your Old-World / Tuscan Glazing projects. Be sure to also follow the general tips found elsewhere on this page.

Number of Colors:

For most projects, you'll want to apply a single glaze coat over a base of two coats.

Ratio of Colors:

With Tuscan style glazing you apply your glaze coat over your base coat so that it covers 100% of the base coat. 

Wipe Down the Glaze:

With Tuscan style glazing, you don't blend the glazes. Instead, you wipe down the glaze with a damp rag, so that what remains is a burnished look, with most of the glaze remaining in deep crevaces.

REMEMBER - The Tuscan style glaze only works on top of thickly textured walls.

Tuscan Style Glaze Kit Click to buy the Tuscan-Style Glaze Kit Click to Buy the European-Style Glaze Kit

Tips

European Glazing

Here are some tips that relate specifically to your European Glazing projects. Be sure to also follow the general tips found elsehwere on this page.

Number of Colors:

For most European glazing projects, you'll want to apply two or three glaze colors over a base color.

Ratio of Colors:

If you're using two colors, put the first color on with a brush, taking up about 50 – 70% of the area. Fill in the remaining area with the other color.

If you're applying three colors, reduce the amount of coverage of the other two, and use the third color on about 10% of the surface.

Blend the Colors:

Take a 4” paint brush, dip it into water, and blend your paint back and forth in a figure 8 fashion to create lights and darks. European Glaze Kit European Style Glaze DVD

Tips for Any Type of Glazing

Here are some basic "how-to's" that you should keep in mind regardless of what type of glazing project you're going to try.

Picking Your Colors

When picking colors, consider picking two colors off the same chip chart, as they’re always going to blend well. You can try to be more adventurous if you’d like, blending contrasing colors for instance, but if you want to be safe, stick with colors from the same chart.

If you use an accent color, you can use pretty much any color that you'd like.

Ratio of Paint to Glaze

There's no set rule for how much glaze to mix with your paint, though for most projects I work on, I use about 2/3rds glazing liquid to 1/3rd paint.

Keep in mind that the more glaze you use, the lighter your color will be, and the more subtle the look you'll achieve. If you want a bolder look, use more paint to glaze, or use a darker color of paint.

Painting Techniques

Use Eggshell or Satin: Always use an eggshell to satin finish for the base coat so that the glaze doesn't get soaked through. Also use eggshell to satin paints to mix with your glazes.

Get a Good Base Coat: Always paint two coats as your base coat, and let your base coat dry for 24 hours before applying your glazes.

Paint in Small Areas: It's best to work on small areas at a time — randomly-sized areas, roughly 2'x 2' —at least until you get the hang of it. Complete each step in the process described below before moving to the next area.

Paint Random Shapes: Never paint square areas.  Always paint in areas of random shapes and sizes.  Otherwise you will likely get a repetitious pattern that's unwanted.  What you want is a random look.

Hold-Off On Judgement: Never judge your faux painting for at least 24 hours as the glazes will take at least that long to settle into their true color.