Art Effects

Faux Moroccan Leather

Following Art Effects Paper 'Plique instructions...
see how you can take the process a little bit further and create a unique faux leather finish.

For a client who collected authentic African Art, we came up with an idea to enhance their collection. Getting inspiration from a Moroccan leather bag, we decided to use our Paper 'Plique technique and create a leather finish on the walls. To add to the authenticty of the leather look, we decided to create seams like were on the leather bag. By researching the style of Moroccan art we found a lot of ornamantions were used.

    

We decided ahead of time where our seams would be placed. using a level we made a plumb line, to follow while installing our paper.
Note: it is not absolutly necessary to create the seams before applying your seam material...we just wanted to add to the "close-up" detail. To most this detail wouldn't be noticed.
Now continue with our Paper 'Plique instructions by priming the paper and basecoating.
Again for more detail...For a more realistic effect we applied tape on the seams so each section of the "leather" could be glazed seperately

Paper 'Plique

It took several trips to the fabric store to find the perfect material to use for our seams. Remember when looking for something...it usually does not exist and you just might have to get creative. Look for something you can adapt to what you need, think about what you can cut or add to the materail you are looking at. We found "the perfect ornamental seam" to be curtain gathering material. Of course nothing is ever going to be the right color, so we glazed it to coordinate with our leather finish.

This room was the kitchen and on the other side was a bar, Here we needed something to set the area off. Once again with the aid of the home owner we researched to find the perfect symbol we could stencil. This is the endless knot, a buddist symbol for destiny. A symbol found in much of the wooven rugs and tapistries of Africa. Here we must give credit to the husband, he had actually taken a picture of this symbol on one of his many trips to the area...
he was quite pleased to be able to contribute to the project.

 

The stencil had to be drawn and we cut it out of poster board. Since the walls were textured we used the stencil to draw the symbol on the wall, and then taped off the area to be painted. Once we finished the stencil we realized the top lip of the bar needed something so we just added a simple stitching effect.