Monday, February 22, 2010

.:During:. Part 2 of Our Lazure Process


Rainbows dance on the prepped walls

The girls' bedroom has been primed and painted white for a bit now, but I hadn't started the lazuring yet simply because I couldn't find the time. Finally, over the weekend I had a free day to start the process.



I gathered all my supplies and mixed the paint for my first coat.



Once it was mixed up it looked a bit too dark to me (there are many layers of paint in the lazure process, so you don't want the paint to be too dark), but I took a risk and put it up anyways.



The first wall came out just like I wanted it to, very light and airy just like the kindergartens I have visited, so I figured the paint mixture was ok after all. But after that first wall my mind wandered elsewhere, instead of meditating on the wall in front of me, and my painting went a bit crazy. I am not quite sure how I managed it, maybe I was pressing to hard with the paint brush or maybe I was adding too much paint to my brush at a time, but each wall got progressively darker, and my paint strokes more and more visible.



You can see in the picture above, the light airy pale pink color I started out with on the wall on the right and then the dark pink with strong brush strokes on the wall on the left (I promise the ceiling isn't pink the color just reflected on it in the picture). Seeing how at least 3 more coats of color will be applied to that, I don't think I could leave it like it is. I really want to put a coat of white on those three walls I painted too dark and then start over. Since the first layer of paint consists mostly over water, it's not a huge loss of supplies, just a loss of time.
But at the same time I kind of just want this to be done and over with. My girls want their room back, plus my mother in law is coming in April and she'll need a place to sleep so I don't have tons of time. I don't think the perfectionist in me will let me rush this, though, and I probably will end up painting over my mistakes and starting all over... hmmm, maybe tonight...

I hope you all had a wonderful weekend! Here's hoping I get to type a WIP Wednesday post this week *fingers crossed*

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16 comments:

Anonymous said...

It is so hard to make these decisions! I never want to start over and sometimes that gets me in the end when I'm not happy with the results. But sometimes I'm okay with it and don't see what I thought was a big mistake. Good luck!!

healing hillary said...

i think the beauty of lazure is that it is inconsistent. perfection is hard to attain...let me know if you find it :).
i am loving watching this beautiful process unfold, friend.

LillyZoo said...

beautiful!!! The Lazure stream consciousness must be strong. I have been working on our girls room. I just finished the room and ceiling this weekend. I put a final clear coat on it last night incase I have to clean the walls for any reason. I think maybe mine is more of a mural though and may be too busy.

did you mix an essential oil in with the glaze? we did and it made the process so enjoyable.

I love your blog and read often. Thank you.

Heather said...

I really want to do Lazure with the boys room as well, but they are just getting settled sleeping in there, and I have not wanted to disturb the process. I so understand the perfectionist attitude, and I am sure that you will get it where you envisioned. I love the technique so much, it just creates a very magical place.

Lacey (schoolhousefarm) said...

I can't wait to see the end results! i'm not familiar with lazuring...you're opening my eyes. Perhaps I'll use it in our next home.

sarah in the woods said...

I bet your girls will love those pink walls! Can't wait to see the finished product.

Kindermama said...

Since it's mostly water based can you kinda go over the darker walls with a watery brush to smooth things out or is it not possible once it's fully dried? Can you tell I've never lazured!

momma rae said...

i agree that with the comment that hillary made that the inconsistency is part of the beauty of this technique. i do not have a TON of lazure experience, but we did tackle our classroom last summer. we working on concrete walls and it was very, very challenging. those walls are thirsty! it took 5 or 6 coats before we could see any color at ALL! we ended up doing 11 coats total (not counting the two and half primer coats)!!

i think you are off to a great start, but i have never done this on *regular* walls, so i'm not much help really. it is easy to let one's mind wander, but this process is very much about creating the energy of the space which was particularly important to us in our classroom. have fun!

Manisha said...

Hello there,

looks good. When I "lazured" the kids rooms some 12 years ago, I just took a bucket og water, put a little bit of Stockmar watercolour into it, made a test on paper to see how strong the color was - and then got going BEHIND a door to get the knack of it. I used a little natural grown sponge. And voila!I let it dry over night to be able to decide if it was enough :-)
Greetings from Germany

Jessica said...

Painting is such a challenging chore for me--picking colors is tricky! I love the lazure --it is beautiful!

Nicola said...

it is looking good. i can see the difference, but remember paints dry a different color than they appear when wet.
if the color is something you can all live with, press on. part of what makes it beautiful is that it is different everytime, so your walls won't identically match someone else's.
good work!
nicola
http://whichname.blogspot.com

FrontierDreams said...

Thank you :) I did end up painting over those three walls. I just had a feeling it would drive me crazy if I didn't. Hmmm... perhaps I am a bit too obsessive-compulsive????

LillyZoo - Tank you for your kind words. I never thought to put essential oil in it, I will have to do that for the rest of the coats, thank you!

Tracy Hayhurst said...

Nicole, thanks for sharing your beautiful projects with us. I'm thinking about doing some lazuring in our house. Could you pass on info about the materials you used?

FrontierDreams said...

Hi Tracy, yes! Absolutely! I am almost done with their walls and plan on doign a post very soon with al the details.

Emily said...

Did you ever finish the Lazure room? Do you have photos or a link to a tutorial you used?
Thanks! Emily

FrontierDreams said...

I did finish it. I don't have any pics of the whole room right now but pics here and there on the blog of things or my children in their room.There wasn't a tutorial online to ue, I just went with instructions/advice from teachers and friends. I do need to get the tutorial up though!Hopefully soon. Thanks for stopping by!

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