acrylic paint

My fabulous friend Charmaigne is opening a tattoo parlour , and we have been coming up with ideas to transform what is basically a HUGE empty space with creative ideas and a low-as-possible budget. The shop consists of a vast reception area, two treatment rooms, a tiny staff room, WC and the main tattoo studio. Various people will work in the shop; tattoo artists, a reflexologist, manicurist, and a laser tattoo removal specialist.

Most parlours we have seen are very male orientated – lots of photos of tattoos on the walls, big black leather sofas and quite cold in style. We want to make a welcoming, fun, entertaining space for Charmaigne’s customers and their friends, and came up with a hybrid of Boudoir, Circus and Fantasy inspired ideas for the main reception space. Lots of large scale props will be added later as decoration from pinball machines to pop art to a large scaled rocket.

Stripping Out:

The blank canvas was really daunting; lumpy rendered walls, awful suspended ceilings, and floors that were mixed levels and in a very sorry state. A massive strip out followed, with new ceilings going up followed by plastering some wall areas. The floors had to be stripped and made level. Lighting was replaced with directional spotlights.

The first space you enter is the large reception area. We chose an dark aubergine purple for the walls to warm up the large space. Here is the first coat going up onto the very textured walls, (horrid to paint). New ceilings and lighting had to be installed. Rich gold is being used on skirting and door frames, this ties into planned decorative items being added later into the scheme. Charmaigne has basically bought all the gold paint in the county for this project to date….

The main tattoo workroom has to be very hygenic, and follow strict Health and Safety rules with non-porous surfaces. We decided to follow a clinical/institutional theme in this room and play on the operating theatre theme of cleanliness! The films ‘Dead Ringers’ is the inspiration for this space. It also has existing security bars on the windows that have to stay, adding an slight prison feel to the room. Metro tiles half way up the walls were applied to start which will have very dark grey grout, and a plasterer booked to come and skim the remaining walls and ceilings to provide a good base to paint on. The walls will be a deep dark grey to offset the tiles and bright lights needed for tattooing. The flooring is ordered; very dark grey lino which again is hygenic and practical.

There is a small staff area and WC, it is really dark and small so a deep red was used and the gold carried through, here it is after coat 1 of paint:

We have done the first shopping trip to gather a variety of furniture and decorative items, sooo excited!!!! Watch this space for the developing world of Rocket Queen as it comes together…

A tired pair of silver plate candlesticks had seen better days, and to re-plate them is expensive. So here is a DIY refurbishment to make them look like old verdegris versions, and they look very realistic. It is really simple to do, and these took about 40 minutes start to finish, (with cups of coffee included!).

Before and after:

You will need acrylic paint in black, green, turquoise, white and bronze. Also a really scruffy old paintbrush (ie. a tatty one such as an old child’s school paintbrush), and a wider household brush. Varnish is optional at the end, and if you do use it you will need a clear matt one. This is a fast process once the base coat is done, as there is so little paint in each stage that it dries really fast between layers.

Cover the entire candlestick with black acrylic paint using the household paintbrush, amazingly it sticks to metal well and I did not prime it. You could also use a paint formula like milk or chalk paint if you have it in black Leave to dry completely.

Starting with turquoise, dip the scruffy brush into the paint and then wipe off most of the paint onto some kitchen towel. Very gently start stippling the paint randomly over the candlestick so that the black undercoat is still visible, leave to dry when finished. In the picture you can see how dry the brush needs to be:

Repeat the process with the green acrylic paint all over the candlestick using the same technique. Leave to dry. Then with the white paint, and again using the same technique, gently brush over just 3 or 4 areas on the candlestick, it will look a bit like dust. If you think you are lacking any of the colours in areas or they are too dense, you can repeat the stippling with all of the paints until you are happy with the results. You can also work it with the brush when it is dry to blend the colours a little.

Finally, using the dry brush technique again, take some of the bronze metallic paint and almost gently tickle and lightly run the brush over the raised areas of pattern so that paint just highlights certain areas. For flat areas gently brush on, and using your fingers smooth it into the surrounding paintwork.

That is all there is, and it looks extremely realistic and antique. Brilliant!