Go almost anywhere in Europe and you have to look up to the ceilings. That's where much of the great ceiling art is located. These frescoes are a wonder and we're all amazed. Often you will hear, "how'd they do it!?" Truth is, the tourist visitors probably have more of a sore neck than Michelangelo got painting his ceilings. One does not lie on one's back. You install a scaffold and stand. Your shoulder becomes sore before your neck.
Now it is true the ceiling is quite challenging, and for many, daunting. Ah, but it's certainly fun, and the results are always worth the effort.
Ceilings are most generally flat, though recently I was commissioned to paint a concave ceiling. We will discuss concave ceilings another time. This edition we're talking about flat ceilings, pricing and pounce patterns. Good stuff!
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Items you will need-
* An overhead projector
* A pounce wheel set
* Black chalk (artists chalk sticks)
* A roll or two of banner paper
* Blue 3M painter's tape
* A large cardboard box (you're going to cut this up)
* Assorted acrylic paints
* An assortment of acrylic paint brushes
* A bag of rags
* One quart of acrylic (water based) clear coat.
* A quality low nap roller, roller cage and paint tray
* One old (but no holes) sock
* One good helper
First step is to get a very accurate measurement of the ceiling.
Next: Talk with the client about design expectations: Simple, ornate, Old World style or maybe something more modern/contemporary. Take into your considerations the home decor together with architectural elements of the home. A really good place to find a design motif is to check out the furniture, i.e., accessories like hutches and curios that incorporate wrought iron.
In this case the style was decidedly Old World with a touch of modern. I took my measurements, and in looking around the client and found a design element on a curio cabinet. I took a quick picture. I headed back to my studio and set to work on my work-up. Always draw up your design and make it to proportion, e.g., 1 inch equals 1 foot for example.
Next: Have the client look over your work-up and tweak it as necessary. This is where the pricing comes in. I charge by the square foot. Prices for ceiling art is more than what one charges for wall art. Simply stated, it's harder, more time consuming as you have to get way up on a ladder or scaffold. Sometimes you have to rent scaffold if it's a big job. All of these factors are just labor considerations for these projects. So a wall of the same size might run (according to detail involved) from $8 a square foot while the ceiling will run $14 for example. Typically you're looking at a two, maybe three day job. One to draw it up (min 2 hours) then get an approval (maybe another hour travel time and all). One day to make the patterns up (shooting the pictures, copying to transparency, cutting border paper and pouncing the design (min 3 hours). And one day to apply/paint it on the ceiling (min 4 hours). So you have a good 8 to 10 or more hours in this. One hundred an hour is reasonable, and when writing the proposal in square foot lingo, should be from $14 to $16 per square foot. This covers and includes all materials and labor for this job-- more if you have a larger, and much higher ceiling. In such a case you factor in scaffold rental and height. I charge scaffold rental at the price I rent it and add .50 cents for every foot over 9 feet.
Note: What I like to do is draw out my design small enough that I can either scan it in my computer or shoot a digital picture and upload it to MyPictures. From that you're going to place a transparency into the printer and copy your drawing onto the transparency.
Next: You should have obtained from Office Depot or Staples or even a school supply store, a roll of banner paper.
Next: Find a wall space large enough to roll that banner paper out and where it is easy enough to draw on.
In our example my design was made such that the design featured a central design around the existing light fixture (see picture below). As for the four sides I made up a different design to form a boarder of sorts.
Thinking along these lines of my design what I did was pulled out a length of boarder paper to cover the whole length (12 feet). Then another length of boarder paper for the short side.
Next: Take your transparency of the design and place it on the overhead and simply shoot it on the boarder paper. Take measurements to be sure the design is sized to what your ceiling dimensions actually are. You don't want it short so that you have to fudge it when on the ceiling.
Next: Just trace the image onto the boarder paper. Do the same for the center design.
Next: Cut up your cardboard box so that you can lay it out flat on the wall UNDERNEATH the boarder paper. You will need to tape the box onto the wall. The box will protect the wall from the pouncing and help make the pouncing much easier.
Next: Get out the medium or large pounce wheel (image of pounce wheel below).
Begin tracing the designs. Be careful not to push to hard as the pounce wheel is sharp and can easily turn the paper into a stencil. You do not want a stencil, you just want the nice little holes and the design all intact on your paper. Once you have pounced the design remove the paper and on a harder surface, like the tile floor, concrete garage floor is good, very lightly sand the patter on the back side. This removes the chads so that when you pounce it, the chalk won't clog the holes.
Next: Get one of those rags, lay it out flat and get several large stick of your artists charcoal out and roll them up in the middle of your rag. Get a hammer and lightly pulverize the chalk to powder. Now pour that into your old sock. You should have at least a golf ball sized amount. Tape off the top of the sock so it doesn't fall out. If the sock is very thin, you might need another. You want to be able to pounce it on the patter but not have it go flying all over the place.
Now get your helper and take the design to the space, lay down drop cloths to cover the floor area so as to capture any chalk dust. Set up your scaffold or even a couple of ladders with a good sturdy 2" x 10"x 8' board (which is all I needed for this project).
Next: You and your helper take your Blue 3M painter's tape and rip off several pieces about two inches long and stick them on your apron all about your chest. Now place the long side pattern onto the ceiling, end to end and against the side and apply the tape so it stay in place. You will need to work quickly as the tape will soon come loose from the paper. Take your pounce bag of black chalk and lightly pounce the perforated design in an up blot, blot fashion. You do not want a lot of chalk flying but you need enough to transfer through the holes. A quick check on the side will let you know it you're tamping the bag hard enough. Trust me, it takes very little blotting force.
Once done, wipe it off outside, flip it over and go to the opposite side and do it again. Now you have exact matching images on both long ends. Do the same for the short side.
Once the sides are done lay up the center pattern. You might need to cut it in half to go around the light fixture's button. That is what I did in our example. It's easy enough. Okay, not let's paint!
Basically, painting it is simply filling the pattern you pounced. If you were good at keeping inside the lines with your coloring book as a kid, well you'll have no troubles then. Now collect your check and get ready for another great mural project.
Remember, if you're not having fun, you're not doing it right!
Until next time.
MuralMan
