Do you have rooms in your house where there are no overhead fixtures? A room that requires you to plug in lamps rather than throw a switch when you enter? Bare ceilings are perfect for creating something elegant like ceiling medallions. Don’t know what those are? Well, it can basically be anything you want it to be. Of course, the ceiling medallion would have to be easy to make and lightweight, right? It would have to be stunning yet very cheap, yes? If those are your requirements then I’ve got the perfect project for you! Even if you never craft, don’t work with hand tools and know nothing at all about ceiling medallions, you can easily make them for any room of the house!
Put away the tools because you won’t need them to make the ceiling medallions. The only implement you’ll need is a pair of scissors and possibly a yardstick. Although the medallions are very simplistic they’ll be extremely impressive when you’re finished. They are made from inexpensive materials but will truly look expensive when they’re finished.
Ready to get started? You’ll need some Fun Foam pieces from a craft store to begin. The foam is very thin, comes in huge sheets or small ones, and is available in a variety of beautiful colors. Although discount department stores often sell the craft foam it’s difficult to find it there, in huge pieces, which is exactly what you’ll need to make your ceiling medallions. Locate the extra large foam sheets online or at most any craft store.
Real ceiling medallions cost hundreds of dollars but you can make something comparable for a few bucks. Decide on the design you want to do, and the colors you want to use, then get busy cutting out the layers of the medallion. Designs can vary so there are no limits to the different medallions you can make. For example, cut a huge circle for the base of the medallion, then cut a star shape that is somewhat smaller than the circle, then finish with another, smaller, circular shape. Layer these shapes together to make one design. Create a different design by simply gluing on a smaller circle, then another one even smaller, and so forth. Layering the foam pieces, though, is a very important step when making the medallions. Without the layering you simply have a flat piece of foam on the ceiling.
After cutting out the shapes make them look much more substantial by painting them with texture paint. Texture paint can be applied by simply patting the paint onto the foam shapes with wadded paper toweling. When texturing all the pieces of the medallion the paint could get a little expensive. Make your own textured paint by simply stirring sand (not dirt) into the paint. Add sand until you have the texture you want. Pat the paint onto the foam shapes with paintbrush or paper towels.
A different way to texture the foam pieces is to stir sand and white glue together. Pat the texture mixture onto the various foam pieces. After you’ve applied each layer of texture, and allowed everything to dry, simply spray paint the medallion pieces in shades of gold, silver or other choices. The medallion can have more than one color or each layer can have the same color. There are literally thousands of designs you can make depending upon the shapes and colors you choose.
Textured paints of gold, silver or bronze coloring are striking when they’re used for the medallions. The paint gives a hammered metal look to the simple foam pieces. It’s helpful if you use a similar background for the metallic paints. For instance, use yellow foam if you’ll be apply gold texture paint, gray foam for silver paint. This will help you use less paint than if you try to cover, say, white foam with black paint. You can apply more than one coat of textured paint depending on how much texture you want it to have.
After all the paint has dried use spray adhesive to adjoin the pieces. It’s important that you center each piece on the previous one and that you get the finished medallion exactly in the center of the room. Glue strips, or double-sided tape, will help you position the medallion perfectly on the ceiling. After you get it in position stand back and admire your handiwork! You – and your visitors – won’t believe how real it looks. No one will be able to tell the medallion is cheap foam; it will look like the real thing!
Reference:
- Purchase large foam pieces here: www.michaels.com
