Our scenic painter is back with tips on faux marble. Stone features heavily in many scenic designs. It’s not particularly practical to use the real thing in most theatrical settings. It’s heavy and hard to install for such a temporary use as a play. It’s also not so fun for the stagehands to move. If you missed the first round of tips on faux painting, check it out here.
These color tips reference this picture:
The colors can be adjusted to match just about any kind of marble you need.
First, pick a rich prime color that will add depth to the faux stone. Our painter recommends Rosco Off Broadway paint. For this marble, she used a light blue. A faint purple could also work. If you need your final project to be flame retardant, mix in Flamex Paint Additive to the base coat. Paint your surface evenly and let it dry. Then add a coat of light tan on top of your base coat.
Next, using Rosco Off Broadway color, mix the paint with water or glaze to dilute it (one part paint to four parts water or glaze). Our painter used tan, white, brown, and some pink to help layer in the color of the faux marble. Some areas should be darker than others when painted. It’s important to keep the faux marble a little lighter than the final product needs to be.
Time to get as messy as you want while mudding. This is where the marbling can come to life. With your base colors (tan, white, brown and pink in this case) in separate containers, apply them on your surface with a sponge dipped in a bit of water.  Put different colors in different areas and use the sponge to blend the areas together. Use the sponge to dab the areas that need to be darker, blending out to the lighter areas. If too much water is used, everything will start to look the same. Just let the surface dry and begin again.
Veining the faux marble can be done in several ways. One of our painter’s favorites is to use a string and a spray bottle with water. Veining this way is done after the entire surface is dry, otherwise the paint will mix all together. Wet the areas that veins are to go and dip the string in paint, wiping off the excess with your fingers. Now for the extra messy bit, whip the string onto the wet area and drag it to achieve a vein-like look. When the string is removed, the area can be sprayed again with water to make the vein run. Play with your paint to get different vein looks.
Finally, to complete the stone effect, some splatter painting may be involved. Our painter recommends splattering with a dilution of 3 parts Rosco Supersaturated paint to 7 parts water. That ratio may need adjusting. Her favorite way to tell if the mix is ready is to stick her finger in it. If the paint swirls a bit and she can see her fingerprint, it’s ready. Put this into a spray bottle after straining it with fine mesh (some painters have been known to use pantyhose in a pinch). Spray lightly at first and add more layers as necessary to replicate the marble pattern needed.
Finish the look off with an acrylic glaze to give it the shine that real marble has.
Hopefully this handy guide has given you some inspiration to get out there and get messy. Enjoy your painting. If you have any questions, do not hesitate to contact us here at StageSpot.
