It was the best of times. It's to be the most wonderful of times!

What a Year it has been!

Awesome. Busy. Challenging. Creative. Delightful. Exciting. Fulfilling. Fun. Glorious. Humbling. Inspiring.  I can easily work my way right through the entire alphabet here!

We have had so many new students join us and it has been a joy getting to know them and helping them with their projects.  In the process we've made fabulous new friends. 

The completed projects that I have seen this year, have been fantastic and the feedback we received has been so overwhelmingly positive. One student sent me this a few days ago: "I absolutely enjoyed this online class.  It's a brilliant and unique concept.   It really made it doable being able to do it on my own time. I learned so much more than I ever imagined I would.  All of the videos were very helpful with clear instructions. I think the cost of the course is a real bargain for all that is learned. I don't know of anything like what you have but there are classes teaching only one class that will charge that. If you get another course together I would like to to take it.  Thank you for this course and your help." E.K.

It is comments like this that have inspired us to add more to the existing course and develop new course material, which we plan to launch in 2015.

It truly has been the best of times and it is with a bittersweetness that I wave 2014 adieu ...

... but happily welcome 2015. May it be the most wonderful of times for us all.

Happy New Year to you!

Tania

xxx


#mirror #paintfinish #onlinecourse #gilded #frame #patina #distressedpaint

Merry Christmas from FARRAGOZ!

We are enjoying the Christmas cheer in the FARRAGOZ studio!

Santas and Christmas trees seem to magically appear all around us.

We would like to wish each and every one of our students, followers and friends around the globe a wonderful Christmas and a fabulous New Year. 

See you in 2015!

Tania

xxx

Trumeau Mirrors

The French word trumeau originally referred to the space between windows. In the 18th century, the French started manufacturing trumeau mirrors to hang in these spaces, providing a decorative element and bringing more light into the room.

 Antique trumeau mirrors range from carved, unpainted wood to painted and partially gilded, all the way to highly ornate and entirely gilded.

The mirror is almost always rectangular and if old, most often the glass is tarnished with grey and black spots. The decorative portion above the mirror glass may even include a painting.

 Those designed to be placed above a mantelpiece, rather than between windows, would have had candles placed in front of the mirror to increase ambient light.

Reproductions of 18th-century trumeau mirrors became popular in the Regency period and in the 1950's when French furniture was popular. Today, with the increasing interest in French style interiors, trumeau mirrors are highly sought after. A genuine antique trumeau can cost between US$2000 and US$20,000.

Making your own trumeau mirror and finishing it to look like a real antique trumeau, is not an impossible task.  It could be a large floor standing piece or a smaller overmantle trumeau. The colours and finishes can vary, but the process remains the same.

In Module - Trumeau Mirror of the FARRAGOZ Patina PROJECTS Online Course, students are given the opportunity to learn the basic process of how to make a small trumeau mirror and the decorative ornaments to apply to it, from scratch. Alternatively, they can start with an existing mirror and build on that. Finally, they will learn how to paint and distress it to look authentically old, using original homemade paint recipes.

With the skills and knowledge acquired in completing this project, students can move on to designing and producing their own trumeau mirrors in whatever size and finish they desire.

In my next post, I hope to share my recently completed shell trumeau.

Happy Painting!

Tania

xxx

#mirror #paintfinish #onlinecourse #gilded #frame #trumeau #homemade #milkpaint #overmantle #antique #patina #distressedpaint #french