Mixing Faux Painting Glaze

About Painting Glaze

Faux painting glaze is a translucent liquid that mixes with paint and colorant to create a see-through finish for walls and furniture. Because glaze dries slower than paint, it allows time to manipulate the finish with a sponge or other faux finishing tool to create decorative effects. For many faux techniques, two or more colors of glaze can be used, one over the other, to create the impression of depth in the finish.

Mixing Glaze

Glaze is available in alkyd–based and latex formulas. Mix latex paint with latex glaze and oil or alkyd based paints with alkyd glaze. Use a ratio of 1 part paint to 4 parts glaze to mix the basic formula for most faux finishes. A thinner mixture may be needed for some effects such as when using a dragging and combing finish or stone faux techniques.

Only a small amount of glaze is needed for most projects. For faux techniques with one glaze color like sponging on walls, a quart of glaze will cover an average 9x12 room. For more complex processes where two or more glaze coats are used, two quarts or a gallon will probably be needed.

Mixing Your Own Colors

For faux finishing projects with multiple glaze coats, using premixed paint colors can get a little pricey, so it may be better to mix your own colors. You can use white paint or a light, premixed color and alter it using colorants available from your local supplier. Small, 1 or 2 oz. tubes of colorant will be enough to tint many different glaze colors for multiple projects.

To mix colors use a small pail or a discarded plastic food container. For a 4 to 1 ratio use a quart of glaze and a cup of paint or a gallon of glaze and a quart of paint. Before mixing the two together, add colorant to the paint, a few drops at a time until the desired color is reached. Test the color on a sample of the basecoat for the faux finish. If the color is too dark add a little white paint to lighten it. Darken the color using lamp black, raw or burnt umber. Add a couple drops at a time until the color is right and then mix the two together.

Using the Color Wheel

Following the color wheel below adjust tints using red, yellow and blue colorant or paint. With these 3, all the colors in the wheel can be mixed. To mix secondary colors use equal parts of two of the primary colors, for example, mix yellow and red to get orange. To mix intermediate colors use a primary color and a secondary color; mix red and orange to get red/orange. To darken the shade to a burnt orange use black or umber, to lighten it, use white.

Choosing Your Colors

Choose the colors you want for your faux finishing project using a color scheme card. Most home and supply stores will have samples with several complimentary colors on the same card to help with choosing a complimentary color scheme.

In general it's better to use light colors in small rooms and darker colors in large rooms. For a small bathroom or powder room for example, use a light glaze color over a slightly darker base color. Try a light tan basecoat and a lighter tan or cream colored glaze coat. This will create a bright, open feeling in the finish. This color scheme works well for a sponge or ragging effect using just one or two glaze coats.

In large rooms use a more complex finish like faux wall painting, comb dragging or opaque sponging. Choose a light shade for the basecoat and followed by progressively darker glaze coats.

Always buy all the paint you will need for your project at one time. It may be impossible to get the exact color mixed again. For an average 9x12 room, a gallon of basecoat paint will usually be enough. If you are making a radical change to the color however, you may need more for multiple coats.