Dusting the Floor

I get a ton of questions about how I painted the floor for Lion King Jr.  Here is the secret:

I used feather dusters.

I feather duster is a great way to create a subtle textured effect.

I start with a base.  For Lion King Jr  I choose two base colors; one base for the structures or rocks and one for the main floor of the Savannah.

For this project, you need the cheapest feather duster possible.  I get mine from the Dollar Store.  Cheap feather dusters are stiff.  That is what you want to make this technique work best.

Because I wanted the paint strokes look a little bolder, I left my feather duster whole.  However, many people trim their feather dusters to make them stiffer.

I chose four colors to work with that are related to each other.  The middle color is my base color.  Next, I start with the darkest of the colors I have choose.  I dip the feather duster into the paint to cover the tips of the feather duster.  I dab off any extra paint on a scrap piece of cardboard.  Then I bounce the feather duster onto the surface.  I then repeat the process with a new feather duster.

I use flat paint.  In this case, we rolled on chairs to cover our massive floor space.  Each “chair” had a different color to apply.

Up close it looks like this…

However, the effect looks great from far distances.

After we finished texturing the floor, I added a giant circle made of “claw” hash marks.  I called this circle the “circle of death.”  It would never rise.  Mufasa dies in the center during the show.  For me, it was very symbolic.