Good morning, everyone! Zoom, zoom…another week gone, and another piece of inspiration for you 🙂 This week, I wanted to share this great video by Annie Fryd Christensen I found on YouTube on how to create faux rust using acrylic paints (and one secret, but easy to come by, ingredient). I thought the timing of this video was impeccable since we just learned about altering our metal embellishments using acrylic paints last week…so why not make them look rusty? Heck, this technique can be used on non-metal, too!
Materials
The materials you need for this tutorial include:
- dark brown acrylic paint (Marie’s “Vandyke Brown” is used in this video)
- rust/orange acrylic paint (Marie’s “Burnt Sienna” is used in this video)
- glue that dries clear (matte multi-medium would be great for this)
- cinnamon powder (the secret ingredient)
- a beat up paint brush
- a glass with water for your brush
Step #1
Apply dark brown paint by dabbing the paint onto the surface of your piece – you do not want to use brush strokes here. Work in small areas, and ensure that the entire surface is covered. Allow the paint to dry completely before moving onto Step #2.
Step #2
Mix small amounts of the dark brown and rust colored paints together and start dabbing the paint onto the surface of your piece. The colors do not have to be completely mixed, and you actually get a better result if they are not…rust does not form evenly, so adding this variation will make your “rust” look more realistic. Also, don’t apply the paint too evenly across the surface for this step…for this same reason. You want this layer to look somewhat mottled…you should be able to see the brown through the rust.
Here’s a great example of how this layer of paint should look when you’re finished this step:
Allow your second coat of paint to dry completely before moving onto Step #3.
Step #3
This is when everything takes shape, and really starts looking like rusty metal…pour a small amount of cinnamon into a small bowl and put a blob of glue onto your craft sheet. Proceed to dab glue onto the surface of your piece using an old paint brush. Wipe most of the glue off your brush onto your craft sheet, dip the brush into the cinnamon and add it to the glued area of your piece. Alternate between and glue and cinnamon until you are happy with the look 🙂 It is important to work in small areas during this step.
Step #4
Allow the glue to completely dry, and brush any excess cinnamon off of your piece…and voila…a perfectly “rusty” piece of metal!!! Here are some other pieces that Annie made all “rusty”…aren’t they fantastic?
You could really play around with this technique to create items at different stages of “rustiness” I think, too. For example, on the urn in the photo above, Annie painted the surface black and went straight to Step #3 and added the glue and cinnamon.
If you’re interested in watching the entire video, you can go ahead and do that right here:
