Paint Recipes: A Step-By-Step Guide to Colors and Finishes for the Home

...I have both of her books and they are both great, helpful etc..the life-lesson i learned is...if it doesn't work out..paint over it and start again. ...

This is a wonderful book for anyone wanting to decorate or redecorate their home with style. It is great value because it is literally packed with techniques and ideas to suit anyone's taste. Most effects are surprisingly easy to create. The book starts out with a through explanation of materials. This includes color photos of all the tools, as well as charts with great information on mixing and thinning paint types, primers, undercoats, solvents, glazes, varnishes, sealants, and metallic finishes. Information about toxicity, uses and whether it should be used indoors or out is included as well. There are even several excellent charts on preparing almost any surface for painting. Numerous techniques for painting walls including colorwashing, sponging, dragging, rag rolling, stippling, limewashing, dry brushing, fade-away washing, loose-glaze, mock and rubbed back plaster are included. Effects such as Fresco, Mediterranean and Egyptian are also covered as well as creating borders, stone blocking and making distressed plaster patterns.Then wood effects such as aging, spattering, graining, crackling, combing, and staining are covered. The Scandinavian and Shaker color pallets and styles are demonstrated here too. Stone finishes such as marbling, lapis lazuli, sandstone, porphyry, granite and terracotta follow. Then there are metal finishes including patina, verdigris, rust, lead, iron and bronzing. Finally, lacquer, tortoiseshell, shagreen, leather, stenciling, and gilding techniques are shown. Most of the projects use latex or acrylic paint, only a few use oils. Step-by-step directions are given for each of these techniques or effects. Close-up photos show the each style in a few different colors and recipes are given for each one. Some styles have pictures of finished rooms or objects done with them.Since printing accurate colors is tricky and there are so many variables in materials and surfaces, I know that results can vary. I would recommend experimenting on a small scale and tweaking the recipe to get things the color you want. All in all this is fabulous and inspirational book at an excellent price for anyone who wants to do more than brush on off-the-shelf paint.

I do decorative finishes quite often, and while I have not actually followed any of the paint recipes to the letter, they have provided a jumping-off point for many projects. A nice sourcebook w/ photos of different kinds of tools, pigments, etc. The use of UK measurements and paint terms could be confusing for some people. Overall a very good reference for the serious or semi-serious decorative painter...

This book is great for the do it yourselfer to the beginning pro. Not only is technique included and well written in a clear concise manner, the "recipes" for creating various colors with each technique gives you the oppurtunity to see and try more than just one look so common to other books in this catagory. All in all a great tool for developing skill and color options

Liz Wagstaff knows how to write for the do it yourselfer who is more interested in technique than philosophy. Even the appearance of this book indicates that it is different. Small sized, with a vinyl cover, this book is meant to sit by your side as you work rather than preside on a coffee table. Well written and organized. Wordiness, kept to a minimum, is balanced nicely by good photographs of expected results. Equipment lists and paint recipes are clear and based on easily accessible ingredients. Sneaking a peek at this book at lunch yesterday, I couldn't wait to explore the book at length. Authors of like materials should take note of how a successful artist can share her techniques for the do it yourself challenged. And by the way, the book is a steal at $20.00