Faux Tortoise Shell Finish

(Cynthia Trope; Cooper Hewitt Smithsonian Design Museum)

Tortoise shell with its warm neutral tones has been used in design as a decorative veneer on furniture, boxes, jewelry, and picture and mirror frames.

In the 18^th and 19^th centuries tortoise shell was used to form elaborate hair combs.

Faux tortoiseshell objects provide a point of interest or a resting point for the eye in otherwise neutral spaces. An example is this faux tortoise shell bottle placed with a piece of creamy coral and an oval bar of soap in a silver dish in a bathroom featured in House and Garden magazine.

(NOAA Fisheries)

(www.nationalgeographic.com)

Most tortoise shell was collected from the Hawksbill sea turtles. This practice was banned in 1973 as the turtles were endangered.  

This is my own tortoise shell box, though it is not actually tortoise shell, but a simulated tortoise shell made of celluloid, first used in the late 1880s. Here are several types of boxes made with faux tortoise shell.

(Yew Tree House)

Early 19^th century faux tortoise shell box

Georgian – Victorian era sewing box

English faux tortoise shell and silverplate footed box

Looking at tortoise shell as a finish occurred to me as my husband made a prototype of a wooden plinth or sculpture pedestal. He said I could have it as a small plinth for our ironwood sculpture of an eagle.

There is an eagle on the antique bull’s eye mirror hanging over our bathtub.

I have both of Steven Gambrel’s design books, Steven Gambrel: Time and Place and Steven Gambrel: Perspective, and have noticed the use of eagles or other sculptural birds in his work.

French designer, John-Louis Denoit, worked with landscape designer Scott Schrader to create a garden for Denoit’s home in California. The antique falcons were Denoit’s contribution to the garden entrance.  Scott Schrader’s use of vintage stone garden elements and repurposed concrete is inspiring. You might be interested to see more of his outdoor spaces featured in the book, Scott Schrader: The Art of Outdoor Living. I keep it on the table in our library along with several other design books used to inform our planning of the house and garden.

To prepare to create a faux tortoise shell finish you may want to read about processes and watch some demonstrations on you tube.com. Amy Howard and Danika Herrick videos were helpful to me. In particular, Amy Howard spoke of using 100% natural cotton batting rolled into a cigar shape and flicked across the paint to open up and extend the dark spots of “tortoise shell”. Danika Herrick demonstrated creating a faux tortoise shell finish using gel stains. She also recommended Pierre Finkelstein’s book, The Art of Faux.

As I already had Old Master Gel Stain in Dark Walnut it seemed a good idea to purchase a small can of Fruitwood and try creating the finish with gel stains. Amy Howard’s demonstration with the cotton batting was interesting to me who had previously used only cheese cloth when creating finishes. My decision to use these materials resulted in a hybridized method of creating a faux finish.

These photos show me applying the Fruitwood gel stain to the primed plinth prototype and then patting the surface lightly with a piece of cheesecloth bunched in soft a ball. The patting took away the brushstrokes made with the sponge applicator brush.

When the first coat of stain is fully dry, use a medium bristle paint brush to make somewhat random marks moving in a direction from one corner to another. Next, use your cotton batting roll to swipe very gently in four directions. Think of it as making an X and then going over the X horizontally and vertically. These swiping motions soften and extend your marks.

Here are some photos of the finished piece. Each side looks a bit different which, to me, seems more like an actual tortoise shell piece might look.

A final coat of wipe on polyacrylic protects the finish and may make the colors and surface appear more like a fine tortoise shell finish.

Here are photos of our ironwood eagle on her faux tortoise shell plinth.

You might want to consider creating a plinth or pedestal for a treasured object of your own!