Who grieves a frying duck?

Both walls below were ragged additively over a terracotta red ground (the border).
Both were subsequently overglazed x 4. Each looked the same, until the left wall was given a fifth coat of thinned white.

Notice the drastic difference from wall to wall. White is an opaque pigment. No matter how much it is thinned, a glaze that includes white will never reach transparency and will obscure underlyinglayers.

To appreciate the meaning of transparency as far as concerns glazing, try this and see firsthand for yourself...

Take two water glasses, and into each add two inches of coffee or tea. Hold each to the light and notice how they look. Now - to one, add an inch of water - to the other; an inch of milk. Lookagain. Notice that the colour remains pure in the watered-down sample, while the one with the added milk (white) has turned cloudy and that the colour and tone has changed.

Use this opaque property for a frosted or veiled look. Or, if the work starts to look garish, add a splash of white to the final glaze to knock it down, and perhaps save the day.

It's easy to overwork the artform. Please don't fuss. Nothing looks worse than something fussed over. If you see that this is happening with your work, take a break -- artistic efforts can easily sublime into a compulsion.

If you are new to applying these finishes, your first results will be better if you try ragging rather than sponging. First attempts at sponging result in refrigerator art.

Whatever the tool of choice - rag or sponge - dip it, wring it out, and dab any excess onto newspaper before moving onto the wall or ceiling (don't tackle a ceiling on your first attempt. Leave ceilings until you are adept).

Use a light touch and gradually increase the application pressure as the rag or sponge unloads. Refold and rebundle often as you go. Twist and rotate both your wrist and the tool, changing hands as you go, and you'll be on your way to a nice decorative effect.

Faux finishes are fun and easy, but amateurs and professionals alike need to decide when enough is enough. It is easy to overwork the effect in those last heated moments of artisticcompulsion. Keep it simple to start. An excellent effect can be had with just two glazes -- each covering about 60-70% of the ground colour.

A word on edges and corners:
Finishing these can often take a third or more of the work-time. That's huge! Considering that time and patience are likely to be in short supply toward the end of a job, do away with all of thatfiddling by masking off the corners and edges. Use a marked-off paint-stick as a jig, rather than fumbling with a tape-measure.

A large difference in colours and tones calls for a narrow border. Otherwise the high contrast border will look a little sparse, especially at the ceiling. This ceiling border was madedeliberately wide with the intent of stencilling something in there.

Compare the colours above with the pastel colours of this faux paneled wall.

Never fry a duck. Duck is much better roasted.