[mark yundt]

Part of the reason the picture frame took so long is this piece. I did this for my wife at the same time for our new bathroom,as well as doing the whole bathroom over.She spotted the cabinet and thought it had potential. So I recarved some of the carvings on it,,added a few more,,then finished it. It's an almond color from a rattle can with an umber glaze for depth. The top is Faux marble in shades of white/grey /black to compliment the room and tiles.

This might be something to consider for one of your own projects.You could use it on an existing piece of furniture as I did.But I have also used this for making interesting looking bases for carvings to stand on. I have also used it for backing type panels for carvings as well.

I used combinations of spray cans in white/grey/black. I then used acrylic paints to make the veins using a bird feather as a paint brush.Then covered the whole thing (top only) with multiple coats of poly.This isn't the most definitive example but it looks neat in the room. Besides my wife loves it,,so it's a win!

There are many books covering the techniques of this paint trick and it's not very difficult to learn.Just something to keep in mind when you can't find exactly the right base for your carving. Just paint it whatever color you think would compliment the piece in marble.

[Mottles]

Hi Mark, nice work on the cabinet. Sure looks like marble!
Kathy

[Thor]

Excellent example of putting your own touch on things.
Great faux finish. I like the cabinet with the carvings very much. Gives me some more ideas for my house.
Thor

[mark yundt]

Thanks! I had planned on building my own cabinet for her to keep her "stuff" in till she said " Oh sure ,like you have the time" So looking around she found this piece which fit just perfectly but we hated the finish that was on it.No problem. I took it apart,,cleaned it up,,added some to it then finished it.Now it's personalized and fills our needs.
The marbling isn't bad,,but like anything fake if you put a real piece next to it,,it'll fall apart.It's just enough to fool your eye and complete a decent looking piece. But it is something else to consider doing.Thanks again.

[doris]

ah, almost missed this one... very nice piece, i like the idea its made from an exiting furniture, as i do "collect" these on the twice a year happenings when people put their unwanted furniture on street, for the garbage men to collect, but everybody is free to pick what you think you can make use of. .... have not thought so far to try to make them nicer... what a thrilling idea :-)
so, did you first de-assemble the piece, and remove the finish to get sort of fresh wood ? is this what you mean by cleaned up ? ...
i am sure your wife is happy about the result, it does look great :-) like the marble, you created, very nice for a bathroom :-)

[mark yundt]

We actually bought the piece at a store,but found furniture works just as well. It originally was finished in an almost chalky looking white,,I guess they were going for that aged "french" look with cracked paint etc. as if it was supposed to look old. Didn't quite make it in my book. So since it was painted I simply sanded it well,,recarved some of the pieces,,added a few more,,then simply painted it to my preference to match my bathroom.
If a piece is getting painted and the primary surface is solid,,I think a good sanding followed with a primer works just fine.
I take off as much as I can to get a better finish,,hit the nooks and crannies so it doesn't look re-done,,looks much better this way. So much furniture I look at today is really finished poorly.Even half the finishes you see even on what most would consider good furniture is really quite poor or much of the wood isn't good quality with just a glaze or other faked graining on it,,then soaked with some glossy finish and people are impressed with that,,,I'm surprised at what I've seen and what they're selling.

[doris]

just sanding you say, yes that is easy :-) i have done on a table (which i bought 20+ years ago, but now was become in so poor condition from use) and it is really beautiful again, i only sanded it, and oiled afterwards....(actually this was the incident which startet me try woodcarving, since i was so surprised i could make the ugly table be beautiful again...) really love the idea. and your example is truely inspiring... might well be, i come for odd technical quesionnts later... thanks :-)

[chuckt]

Hey - I totally missed this thread Mark. Really nice faux marble work there. My wife has done some faux painting for walls and such, as well as some mural work for a possum enclosure at our local nature museum (Museum of the Hudson Highlands). She and I are always amazed at what can be done with faux finishes and you've done an excellent job on this faux marble.

Nice job. The carving looks nice too. ;-)

ChuckT