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Spattering.

Spattering is a technique for applying small splashes or droplets of paint to your chosen surface.
It is possible to create good stone and marble effects without too much experience.
Basically you hold a stick firmly in one hand and hit the paint brush against it with the other.
Any size of brush can be used depending on the kind of look you are after.
Paint the surface to be spattered your desired color and the apply one or more colors to get the effect you want.
Remember not to overload your brush with paint, as too large a deposit of paint can easily result in runs.
Emulsions are usually the easiest to begin with because they dry quickly and dont run too easily into each other.
With practice you will be able to use any size of brush, even a toothbrush for spattering small objects.

Spatter Work- How to do it.—This kind of work may be said to be the reverse of stippling, inasmuch as it means adding spots or splashes of paint to a surface instead of taking them off or creating them by means of a stippler. Some unusual and attractive effects may be obtained by spattering one or more colours upon a solid ground. The method is not much used in the UK, and is therefore of interest to those who desire to produce novel effects.

The colour of the ground is decided upon—it may be done in oil, flat or glossy as may be desired, or in washable distemper—and when this is quite dry, spots of a different colour are spattered on in the following way:

A well-worn wall brush, the bristles of which are quite stiff is charged with paint at the end only, say, for an inch or two at the most. The brush is then wiped off against the top of the paint can to remove superfluous paint, and the brush knocked sharply or hammered against a stock, one end of which is held against the wall and the other with the left hand a few inches from it. The sharp knocks will cause spots of paint to fly from the brush on to the wall. These spots will be of different sizes and all irregular in form, but after a little practice it will be found that they can be obtained fairly uniform by this method, which is the essence of success in this process. This does not mean that the size of the spots obtained by a single knock will be of the same size; some may be as big as, say, a grain of sago, and others very much smaller, but whatever the difference the result of one knocking should be similar to the next. In other words, when the wall is viewed from a distance no one part should appear different from any other part. In doing this work on the wall of an ordinary room, it will be found in actual practice that some of the paint will be ejected on to the skirting, door, and window frames, etc., as the work proceeds, and it is very necessary that this be immediately rubbed off or masked up. A better plan is to use a piece of cardboard to protect the parts where the splashes are not required.

It will be understood that it is by no means necessary to limit the splashes or spatterings to a single colour. Two, three, or more colours can be used one over the other, although, of course, the splashes will not coincide, and the wall when finished will show a series of small dots, irregular in form and in different colours.

Quite a charming effect is produced by splashing gold bronze amid other splashes, but it is, however, a little difficult to get gold to splash, because it is, as a rule, thicker than paint, and if it is thinned down there is not sufficient bronze to give the desired effect.

Bronzes are, of course, made in a large variety of colors, such as pale gold, deep gold, copper, crimson, green, and silver, and these may be used in conjunction or separately according to the scheme of colour adopted.

Use of the Spray Gun for Spatter Decoration .-The easiest way of carry­ing out effective spatter or splash decoration, however, is by means of the spray gun, which makes possible a far greater degree of precision and control than can be achieved by the brush. By using a very low air pressure to avoid atomisation, most artistic effects can be obtained; rapid manipula­tion of the gun gives a series of irregular lines, while, by varying the pressure on the trigger, small globes or spots of paint are applied to the surface under treatment.

Most types of spray guns can be used for this purpose, The variety of effects obtainable by the use of a spray gun is literally unlimited. For line effects, thick viscous colours of about the consistency of treacle should be employed, thick enamels or bronze powders in thick cellulose solutions being eminently suitable. The control is remarkably flexible and lines thinner than the finest hair can be obtained with ease. By using thick stucco paste, attractive raised effects are procurable.

No special skill or training is necessary for executing this form of decoration, which can be carried out by the average operative successfully and at speed after only a few hours practice.