Faux marble or faux marbling is the painting of painting surfaces so as to imitate the appearance of polished marble. It is typically used in buildings where the cost or weight of genuine marble would be prohibitive. Marble For the glass spheres, see marbles. ...

Faux marbling is a special case of faux stone painting, although the distinctive and varied patterns of marble make it the most imitated stone by far.

Faux Marbling by Andre' Martinez in the Colorado State Capitol 2005

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History

Faux stone painting was widely used in Pompeii, but it really took off in Europe during the Renaissance with two schools of faux marbling developing. The Italian school was loose and artistic, the French school was formal and realistic. It typically took an apprentice ten years or more to fully master the art. By region Italian Renaissance Spanish Renaissance Northern Renaissance English Renaissance French Renaissance German Renaissance Polish Renaissance The Renaissance, also known as Il Rinascimento (in Italian), was an influential cultural movement which brought about a period of scientific revolution, religious reform and artistic transformation, at the dawn of modern European history. ...

Modern professional marblers are very skilled and will use a variety of techniques to closely imitate real marbles but many decorators are happy to merely suggest the appearance of marble rather than accurately imitate a particular stone. It is not as difficult to do as it looks. It is perfectly possible for an amateur to produce a beautiful effect with a little practice.

How to paint faux marble

Method

Stage 1 Adding the glaze	Stage 2 Softening the colour	Stage 3 Adding soft veins	Stage 4 Adding final veining
Stages in producing faux marble. Color contrasts have been exaggerated for clarity.

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Stage 1

Stage 1 The surface is cleaned then painted with the black paint using the sponge brush, and left to dry. The next step is to start at one corner or at least at an angle working from one end of the board to the other, varying colors as illustrated above (use your natural sponge dampened first, to apply different colors.) (Clean between colors). Making sure the width of the colors varies. While the paint is still workable with a clean brush soften the lines between colors and blend lightly using the natural brush, (clean between colors.) Now begin adding larger veins between colors with end of sponge brush. (Select a darker color but not black (you may need to mix a small amount of black with color selected. Remove any excess paint with a paper towel.

Stage 2 With natural brush is used to add a light veining pattern in mid grey. The veins do not cross one another, they do not start or stop suddenly, and they do not fan out from a point. They do go in a diagonal direction, but they are never regular or even.

Stages 3 With a clean dry brush soften area again. Allow to dry somewhat but not completely. With the thin orange brush dipped in black (dab off excess) with a very shaky hand begin to add fine veins

Stage 4 You can choose to soften area again with the natural brush, or you you could dip the thin brush in water and fade the veins.