Mimicking “Blistered Paint” look

[RaeKuhn]

Hi all!

For a show I have coming up, we are creating a very lived-in factory basement break room. My designer wants some of the painted brick that I am creating to have a “blistered” effect, and while I have some ideas, I’m not 100% sure how to accomplish the look.

I’m thinking of doing my typical brick texturing (I build up Joint Compound on top of store brick board to make it more realistic and old), and then layering over top of that with liquid latex in the areas I was the blistering. Then I can cut and pull the latex and manipulate it to get the desired effect…I’m just starting samples now so we’ll see, but I would love to hear other ideas!!

I’m including a reference picture so you can kind of see the idea, but we don’t want the wall “quite” that distressed.

Thanks!!

Rae

[Angelique Powers]

For super large peels like that I have painted craft paper and glued it on – partly because my sets usually have to be loaded into a truck and it’s more durable than just peeled paint.

I have also heard tale of doing a layer of thick starch under your “peeled” area and then going back and peeling etc, but I haven’t tried it yet myself.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Jason Strom]

Latex is a great tool if it doesn’t have to be interacted with or move. I’ve used the paper trick numerous times with grand results. Another cool one to get that edge of the paint that is starting to lift off is to use baking soda as a mask to make the paint fail in selective spots. I will make a paste out of the baking soda, and either throw it, or flick it onto the surface where I don’t want to paint. Then, with thick paint I will “lay” it gently over the baking soda, not all the way, but just a bit around the edges. When the paint dries, I go back and knock the baking soda off, and whatever paint with it. If I can find some photos, I will post them later.

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