Post #376858 by khan_tiki_mon on Mon, Apr 28, 2008 8:38 PM

Faux Tapa Paint Effect.
I painted a border around the Tiki lounge. I used a faux tapa paint effect. Tapa cloth (mahute), as found on Easter Island, was made of Mullberry bark. The cloth was painted in designs similar to tattoo patterns. Tapa cloth was used for many items including clothing and folk crafts. My border was painted to resemble tapa. I painted an undercoat for the border. I made stamps to put the designs on the border. For the stamps I cut the designs out of styrofoam. I cut blocks from old plywood and then glued the styrofoam to the blocks.

A before picture. Plain wall without the border. My print "Balinese Girl" by Jan Hoowij and some reproduction Balinese masks.

A picture of the undercoat. Some prints by Sam Gambino.


I ended up doing most of the work free hand with a foam brush.


These are the stamps I made. They worked okay but I still had to touch them up with a small brush.

Completed section. I'll post more pictures once I have some of my art collection up.