by Sam Madsen

Created on: August 06, 2011

Tortoiseshell has a very distinct classy look, with bold colors that is a very popular design on many different types of materials, from sunglasses to walls. If you are a do it yourself home projects person and would like to incorporate the tortoiseshell design to something you have, this is a fun and fairly easy method to achieve the desired look.

Supplies needed:

You will need three (3) different colors of paint, so the amounts used will depend on the size project you have in mind for this particular designer look. If you are doing an entire wall, you will need at least a full gallon of the gold paint again this depends on the size of the wall to be covered.

Gold paint

Black paint

Brown paint

Two medium sized sea sponges, with large holes in them (they come with holes in them and the larger the holes within the sponge, the better for this project).

 One medium sized paint brush with soft bristles.

To begin, start by painting the entire background of your item in the gold paint, making sure to completely cover the area. Once this is dry enough to NOT be tacky to the touch, you will begin the second technique in creating your tortoiseshell design.

Next using the black paint and a long sea sponge, begin by laying the sponge long ways in a paint pan and as you raise it up from the pan, DO NOT rub the paint off on the edge of the pan. You want it to be thick and covering the long sponge on one side, to get the required effect.

Place the long sponge paint side down on your gold background, lightly pressing on the sponge before you pull it away, thus pulling the fresh paint up from the background, creating a textured appearance.

Repeat this technique all over the gold back ground, but not so much so that you are covering all the gold. Just a textured paint line here and there, you are not trying to have a certain pattern, just random.

Once this new layer of paint has completely dried, you will be applying the last step - the over-all tortoiseshell design.

The brown paint and the medium sized sea sponge will be used now to create the final touches to the entire look. Start by finding the biggest holes on the sponge and dipping this area into the paint, in the same manner you did with the black paint.

When you start to apply the brown paint to a particular area, just as you are going to pull the sponge up, push down deliberately, this will  spread out the brown paint more evenly and leaving behind  the sponge designs. Continue to use this same method over all the black areas you have. The finished dried project should resemble the tortoiseshell look, with little effort and a lot of satisfaction for a project you completed.

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