I enjoy showing a lot of pretty final photos of work that our customers do with our Modello Decorative Masking patterns on this blog. You know, TA DA !! You may be wondering, though, “how do they DO that?” The short answer is, “it’s a process”. Recently, Pat Ganino of Creative Evolution chronicalled that process of doing a rather complex custom ceiling decoration on his fabulous message board in this Faux Forum message thread.

What you see above is the pattern “key” that outlines how the individual tiles of cut Modello masking pattern stencils are designed to fit together to cover a LARGE ceiling area. This particular design incorporates many different patterns that were laid out in a customized manner to fit perfectly in the space, and accomodate architectural features that were already in place. 

To assist with this large project, Pat called in Modello grand ceiling expert, Gina Wolfrum. I’ve posted here before about Gina’s fabulous ceilings, and Gina was one of the featured artists in our Modello by Design book. Gina worked with Marc Potocsky to get the pattern pieces installed and lined up perfectly. This is actually the hardest part!

Does this picture make YOU as nervous as it does me??? You can see most of the pattern in place here. The blue material used for this project is our lowest-tack material, and many artists prefer to use this on ceilings as there is less chance for surface damage when removing it later. You see, many times in new construction there are underlying surface issues due to improper prep and priming over dusty drywall. This issue is discussed under Surface Issues on our FAQ page, and sealing with Gardz is another good option.

After removing the transfer tape that holds all the pattern pieces together until they are transferred securely to the surface, Gina gives it all another hard burnish….

…and it’s ready for the fun part-decoration. Because they were using paint for the pattern decoration in this particular project, they also took the extra step to “seal” the pattern by rolling over it with a clear medium. Clear Setcoat from Faux Effects is good for this, but any water-based topcoat will do. This seals the edges of the pattern on the surface, ensuring that the paint to come will not find a way to seep under, and allows for a very clean final print of the design.

Different colors of paint were applied to different areas of the pattern…

…and gold, metallic accent to the banding. Once dry, the pattern is removed…

…and in the matter of a few days a grand, ornate ceiling design is revealed! I so appreciate Pat, Marc, and Gina sharing this with us!! All photos courtesy of The Faux Forum, a great source of information and inspiration-by and for decorative artists from all over the world.

FYI, Pat is now vlogging about his next BIG project-painting two twelve story buildings in Brookly, NY in 60 days.