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  • Today we will demonstrate creative finishing techniques using General

  • Finishes Pearl Effects, our specialty metallic paints. Pearl Effects can be

  • painted or sprayed straight from the can for a solid color or thinned to create

  • specialty finishes. We like to add 5% Extender for spraying and glazing and to

  • improve open time in low humidity. Always use Pearl Effects over a sealed

  • surface such as General Finishes Milk Paints, sealed water-based stains,

  • water-based top coats or any primer. Here are undiluted Pearl Effects sprayed.

  • Argentine

  • Bronze

  • Burnished

  • Champagne

  • Copper

  • and Tawny. This may be the look you want but Pearl Effects lend themselves to

  • much more interesting decorative applications such as dry brushing,

  • stippling, marbling and glazing. The first demonstration is dry brushing with only

  • one Pearl Effects color. The first dry brush demo will be Tawny over Lamp Black that's

  • been sealed with High-Performance Satin. I have my colors into the plate here I'm

  • just gonna give a squirt of Extender and I wanna condition that rag just so that I

  • can get my brush wet and I want a little bit of color. I don't want to use a lot.

  • This is really the key here and just keep dabbing on very soft and subtle.

  • That's the key about dry. You can see it going on, you don't wanna heavy wet film.

  • You want to build color very soft. As the brush gets charged with paint you can just

  • keep adding color wherever you'd like it. If you get too

  • much on just grab a damp cloth and kind of wipe it back. You can see the color

  • develop their. Yeah it's really building. It's very subtle. I like this, I think

  • that's a very sophisticated look. Here are finished examples of one

  • color of Pearl Effects dry brushed over Milk Paint completed with two coats of

  • High-Performance Satin. Tawny over Lamp Black.

  • Champagne over Persian Blue

  • Argentine over Queenstown

  • and here's a completed table. The legs have been painted in Somerset Milk Paint

  • and glazed with Tawny. The top has been finished with Java Gel Stain with two

  • layers of High Performance Satin. You can also dry brush multiple colors.

  • In this demo Tom will apply Argentine, Copper and Tawny over two coats of Lamp Black Milk Paint

  • sealed with High-Performance Satin. Just like before we're going to

  • use the same techniques again I want to use a little Extender to kind of wet the

  • colors out a little bit. I'm going to use a couple different brushes here cause I'm starting

  • with a different color. Drag a little bit of the Argentine silver and I

  • want to blot it off. The key here is just keeping it really dry. The silver is a

  • little stronger so it will show up quicker. That's a nice subtle layer of

  • color. Like I said before if you get too much just take a damp cloth and wipe it

  • right back off. I'll follow it with my next color which is the Tawny.

  • I'm going wet on wet here so I'm gonna let the colors work together. This adds a

  • second dimension of color which really will make those moldings and those

  • routed edges jump off the surface there. These are great combinations of color.

  • This has become my favorite finish here.

  • That Extender just makes that color slide a little bit easier if you can see that.

  • I'm going to take a third brush. I just want to put a little bit of Copper on here.

  • This just dampens the brush so the brush isn't dry.

  • A damp brush will pick up color and distribute it more uniformly. I'll put that

  • third color on there. See that going into the grain there? Three different colors

  • working together really create an unusual, real nice subtle change of

  • colors on your project there. I think that's really cool. It's gorgeous Tom, thank you.

  • Here are finished examples of multiple colors dry brushed: Argentine and Bronze over Lamp Black.

  • Copper and Tawny dry brushed over Espresso water-based stain

  • Argentine and Bronze over Driftwood

  • and here's a hutch painted in Lamp Black and dry brushed with Argentine,

  • Copper and Tawny.

  • Next we'll show two stippling techniques also known as pouncing. In the first we will

  • use a heavy additive stipple. Additive means painting on without removing any

  • of the Pearl Effects. I'm going to do a stipple of Argentine and Tawny over two

  • coats of Driftwood Gray milk paint sealed with two layers of High-Performance

  • Satin. This one is just a little more aggressive application here. Again I

  • charge my brush, wet it out with a little Extender. I'm gonna take a little bit

  • more paint now because I want some heavy application. I'm just going to

  • pounce the color onto the surface. The key is not to be too consistent -

  • you want random.

  • Just a random application and then I'm going to come back with my second color which is

  • going to be the Argentine silver. A little bit more and that

  • Extender keeps my plate wet which is kind of key becuase now I'm going to come back

  • and that secondary color. Try and fill in those spots that you missed and

  • let those two colors blend together. This is easy there's really no rule per se

  • but it's just something that when you like the looks of it put the brush down.

  • It gives you nice, contrasting colors.

  • Thank you Tom. Here are examples of additive stipple: Argentine, Burnished and

  • Copper over Queenstown

  • Argentine over Queenstown

  • Copper and Tawny over Royal Purple

  • For the next demo we will use a subtractive stipple of Copper, Bronze and

  • Tawny over Brown Mahogany water based stain. The paint is applied and then removed with a

  • brush, sponge or towel to create a textured effect, Tom? For this demo I'll be

  • pouncing three different colors together.

  • Again, pouncing is just the method of application.

  • So I'm actually going to pounce the color into the wood

  • right on the surface. It's kind of a stiff up-and-down motion. You don't want

  • to be dragging it, you want to make it look like it's been blotted on.

  • So then I'll do my three different colors here. Again a little Extender become your best

  • friend. Do a little bit darker color, add to the background to help soften out that gold

  • which is a brilliant color. Then I'll come in with my third color, get my

  • brush conditioned here.

  • Copper is a real rich color so it doesn't take a lot. You can see I'm

  • leaving most of it off on the

  • cloth. Well that's good for product sales Tom. Yes it is, we will make more. The next step

  • is I'm going to take just a clean cloth, something without a lot of texture or

  • pattern and I want to just come in and blot this and soften. Look at how

  • those colors just kind of blend together. As a final step I'll take a soft bristle

  • brush and I will come down and this is just a softening technique that blends all

  • those lines together so it looks like its layers of color almost like

  • oxidation. There that's cool.

  • Here are finished examples of subtractive stipple: Tawny and Copper over

  • Brown Mahogany water-based stain and Argentine, Bronze and Burnished over

  • Queenstown

  • And finally, you can mix Pearl Effects with our water-based topcoats and glazes

  • to produce a subtle look. We mix one part High Performance with one part Burnished Pearl Effects. Chris?

  • To start with, here's my brush du jour. It's from the

  • Escoda restore collection. I like it because the handle is thinner, fits the

  • hand really well and has a natural bristle nicely rounded. So we're using

  • this mix of High Performance and Burnished which I have in this jar.

  • I'm just going to get it on the surface. You don't want too much. Even it out a bit.

  • Now come back and do a subtractive stipple technique. This will give that surface a really soft shimmer.

  • You can take off as much as you want but this technique is fabulous

  • for any of your bright reds, bright greens and bright yellows. Those colors

  • are really designed for glazing, pouncing and stippling. Here are examples of

  • water-based topcoats and Glaze Effects intermixed with Pearl Effects.

  • One part Burnished, one part Burnt Umber Glaze, four parts High Performance over Patina Green

  • One part Burnished, one part High Performance over Holiday Red

  • One part Burnished, one part High Performance over Emerald.

  • and one part Burnished, one part High Performance over two parts Tuscan Red and one part Dark Chocolate milk paint

  • Be sure to protect your beautiful work with two coats of topcoat.

  • Here is a quick tip to extend the life of your brushes. It is real important when you're done painting

  • using the Pearl Effects or any product, clean your brushes right away.

  • Don't let that paint dry because it becomes more difficult to clean your

  • brush and it's an investment. The brushes will last you a lifetime if you take care

  • of it. So you can see how quickly it rinses out. I will blot it off on my rag but

  • for storage because what happens with water, the brushes have a tendency to

  • flare. I'll roll my brush in my cotton cloth and that helps keep the shape of the

  • brush. Squeeze it out a little bit so when I'm done with it I can keep the taper

  • on my brush it's a nice natural bristle it's going to last you a lifetime.

  • Erin's Tips: Apply Pearl Effects over sealed surfaces only. Such as topcoat, milk paint or primer.

  • Always seal Pearl Effects with topcoat.

  • Dry time to touch: 2 to 4 hours.

  • Dry time to re-coat when using as a paint: 12 hours.

  • Dry time to re-coat when thinned as a glaze: 2 to 4 hours.

  • Our finishes are engineered to be compatible with each other.

  • Test to your satisfaction when using with other brands.

  • And there you have it, creative ways to use Pearl Effects. More ideas can be found at General Finishes

  • Design Center at designs.generalfinishes.com

  • If you like this video please like, share and subscribe to our channel.

Today we will demonstrate creative finishing techniques using General

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