How to: Faux Marble Column

Whether they are authentic or faux-finished, marble columns always seem to be admired.

Faux finishing involves transforming the surface of an object to look like something it is not. Special painting techniques and tools are used to achieve this faux appearance. During the Renaissance era, artists began to apply faux paint to objects to create the appearance of marble. Because items made of marble are usually quite expensive, many people choose to apply a faux marble finish rather than purchase the real thing. If you have a pedestal or column that needs painting, you may consider transforming it with a faux marble finish. Done correctly, faux marble is almost indistinguishable from the real thing.

Things You'll Need

• Rags
• Light-colored base paint, oil based
• Dark-colored artist's oil paint
• Soft paintbrushes of various sizes
• Linseed oil
• Large feather, such as from a goose

Instructions

1. Clean the surface of your column with a rag dampened with water. Once dry, paint the base color evenly onto your column. Allow the paint to dry overnight.

2. Paint a thin layer of linseed oil over the entire column. This will give you more work time when creating your faux finish.

3. Mix some of your dark-colored paint with your light-colored base paint to produce a medium tone. Paint the color sparingly in small areas around the column. Don't cover the column's base color completely. Save your leftover mixed paint.

4. Mix your dark-colored paint and your light-colored base paint once more, this time aiming to produce a slightly darker tone than the first mixed color. Paint this color onto the column over the paint that was applied in Step 3. Save your leftover mixed paint.

5. Dab a dry, soft paintbrush over the areas where you applied the mixed paint. Continue dabbing the paintbrush across all the freshly painted areas. Wipe the paintbrush and dab over the entire column once more. You will notice the painted areas softening in appearance.

6. Scrunch a rag in your hand and begin dabbing it across the surface of the column. This will produce a marble-like texture.

7. Dip a small paintbrush into your saved mixed paint from Step 3. Apply the paint to the column using the paintbrush, creating irregular, uneven lines across the column. The lines should run in a diagonal direction.

8. Dip your feather into the saved paint from Step 4. Paint thin, irregular lines onto the column using the feather, tracing over the lines drawn in Step 7.

Tips & Warnings

• Clean your paintbrushes and other tools with mineral spirits.

• Art-faux.com has pictures of painted faux marble columns to use for reference.

References

• Fact Index: Marbling

Resources

• Art Faux Blog: Faux Finishing (Marble Columns)