Distressed Paint

Distressed paint, gilt, and wax finish frame and slip.

Zinsser Spot Priming

The previous pine frame with the knots now primed with Zinsser BIN, which is a very versatile primer paint and suitable for many different uses and top finishes.

Treating a Pine Frame

This pine frame was given a glue size coat, then the knots were treated with shellac. Next a coat of Zinsser BIN (shellac based stain blocker) will be applied. Another coat of glue size will be brushed all over, before the frame is given a few coats of gesso.

Finished pine frame

Carrying on from the earlier stages, In the photo above the middle section has been painted.

In the next stage, show above, the frames paint has been distressed with fine sand paper and abrasive pads. Then a grey colourwash was applied all over.

Next some wax is put all over, and the frames were then left over night. Seen in the photo above.

The last work on these frames was to do a little more distressing on the inner mouldings using wire wool, and then to polish all over. I really like this finish, you get lots of subtle colour variations coming through the different layers, which hint at the work and time involved to get the paint effect.

Pine frame progress

The next stages of the pine frame were to distress the bole with sand paper, next dark gold bronze powder was brushed on the inner and outer mouldings, and in the last photo some paint coats have been applied. Tomorrow comes the last few stages: more paint, more distressing, paint washes, wax, polishing, and finishing touches.

Pine frame bole

The next stage on the pine frames is one coat of orange bole and one coat of red bole. This will then be distressed a little before applying the gilt and paint finishes.

Pine primer

This is the pine moulding from a few posts ago, the knots have been sealed, and the whole frame painted with size and primer. It will next have a coat of gesso brushed on and then a few more coats sprayed on.

Pine knots

The (new) moulding in last post was made from tulip, which is a perfect wood for gilding; virtually no knots, close grain, and very stable. This frame is made from pine which has been used alot over the years for making frames but is really horrible for gilding and painting on. The moulding above only comes in pine but it has to be used for a gesso/paint/gilt finish so the timber needs a little more preparation than tulip or obeche. Here the knots are being painted with a shellac based primer called Zinsser BIN.