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Birds Eye Maple Graining
All eighty or so species of the maple tree are indigenous to the northern hemisphere; several are native to the Caribbean. Maple is a tight grained, lightly colored wood, either pale yellow or gray-beige, with many small knots scattered throughout the grain.
Birds eye maple is used primarily in furniture and cabinetry manufacturing, as well as for custom veneering and marques.
Birds eye maple is one of the most beautiful examples of natural wood graining. However, due to the scarcity of older tree growth, faux painting this technique is about the only practical method of using this look in today's decorating.
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After priming the surface with at least 2 coats of good quality primer, use
either a roller or a brush and apply your base color. In this case, we have
chosen pale yellow.
Wipe a thin coat of whiting over the entire surface.
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Brush on your next tinted glaze. In our example, we've used a mixed glaze with raw umber and raw sienna.
Drag your small mottler down through the glaze in a series of overlapping strokes. Introduce a random back and forth, or light shaking, in your stroke, leaving darker concentrations of glaze at various points in the surface. This establishes the basic pattern of the grain.
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Dip the tip of your finger in a bowl of water with a splash of vinegar. The vinegar creates a cissing in the glaze and creates the "birds eye" in the grain.
Soften the entire surface with a soft bristled brush by gently stroking in all directions. Be sure to clean the brush every few strokes. Allow this to dry for 4 hours.
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Coat the entire surface with a gloss or satin urethane or varnish and allow to dry for 24 hours.
After applying another coat of whiting, brush on your last glaze color and drag the mottler through it in a series of slightly overlapping strokes. Clean the mottler bristles after each stroke.
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Using a small artist's brush, paint in the birds eye centers and create the thin wavy bands that make up the rest of the maple grain. Depending on how these lines are applied, you may want to use the soft bristled brush to lightly soften the overall effect. Then, all you need to do is give it one final coat of either satin or gloss urethane and you're done.
To summarize:
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Birds
eye maple is a beautiful finish that can be used on furniture, wall paneling
and cabinetry. The difficulty of achieving this particular graining effect
is medium, depending, of course, on your experience with the wood and faux
painting in general. As with the oak and mahogany graining, we recommend
that you go to your local home improvement store and order a few pieces of
the real thing. This will give you a realistic example to work with.
Practice on a suitable surface with both colors and techniques before
committing to the final work area. Take your time and you will be proud of
the end product.
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