De Ferranti Glossary: "Antiquing"

Glossary: A

Antiquing
Antiquing is a more involved form of distressing where the artisan intends to not only age a piece, but also create an antique appearance.

In addition to distressing the finish, the artisan may reapply historical paint colors, antique-like faux finish and crackle vanishes. They might also apply period accent details, such as antique knobs on dresser drawers.

Several methods involve glazes in which colors blend into crevices to give an antique appearance. The antiquing process is time-consuming and normally requires many steps to obtain the appearance of an aged and worn finish.

The artisan may deliberately sand, dent, and scrape the finish off of furniture or object. Wood can be hammered softer, or dimpled, bleached, pickled, stained or repainted with crackling paints and varnishes. Antiquing paints and varnishes are available at craft stores or can be mixed at home. New layers of paint can be watered down before they are applied to allow the wood and other layers to show through or to look more like white washing. Layers of paint of varnishes can be sponged on to create an uneven pattern. After any new paint or layers are applied, the corners and features can be painted slightly lighter or sanded down as desired to appear worn.

In addition, the following antiquing techniques can be used:

Decoupage

Gold Leaf and Gilding

Graining and Combing

Texturizing

Trompe L'Oeil

Verdigris

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