Second Thursday Tutorial: Easy Faux Rust

For my March, 2016 tutorial, I will share how to create faux rust when you don't want to deal with real rust.

Several years ago I was in a swap and my theme choice was rust.   I somehow ran across this "recipe" for faux rust, but at that time it was summer, so rusting both fabric and paper was easy.  No need for faux rust when the sun and heat made it possible to rust items in two days maximum.  So I filed the faux rust recipe in my folder and completely forgot about it.  That is, until I decided to try some faux rusting techniques.

Like many things I write down, the instructions are often vague or incomplete, and I forget to include where I found the technique.  So unfortunately, I can't give credit to whoever came up with this brilliant technique, only that you can be assured it is not mine.  And of course, I have no idea if I am recreating the technique like the original person who created it, because I had to "fill in the blanks" of what I was supposed to do, and when.

Let's begin with the supply list (from back left clockwise):
Cinnamon
Black acrylic craft paint
Brown (I used maroon, because it's all I had) acrylic craft paint
Chipboard cut outs
Plastic palette knife for mixing and spreading paint
Corrugated cardboard die cuts
Plastic (flexible) animal from a child's toy game
Fun foam die cut
Scrap paper to cover work space and place the painted pieces on
Mod Podge (not shown in this view)

I began by placing some black paint on the scrap paper.

Covering the fun foam, chipboard, and plastic animal was easy.  The hard part came when I tried to cover the corrugated cardboard.  It was a disaster that followed me through all the steps in the process.

So instead of laying the maroon paint on the scrap paper as I did the black, I glopped (it may not be a word, but it fits) and slopped the maroon paint on the various painted pieces.  Note the black paint was not completely dry.  I have no written instructions as to whether this paint needs to be dry before the second paint is added.  So, I went with my intuition and painted the maroon directly over the partially dried black. 

I began to worry that I should be adding the cinnamon to the still wet paint, so added a lot to the still wet pieces I had already painted with maroon.

Here is where a paint brush would probably have come in handy, but all I had in the basement was this palette knife.

Once most of the pieces had been covered with cinnamon and were sticking well, I went over two of the birds with Mod Podge.  Then I removed all the cinnamon from the background paper because it had gotten so nasty, I couldn't tell what I had.

I kept adding Mod Podge and cinnamon to the corrugated cardboard, but much to my chagrin, I felt I was just compounding the problem I had created when I chose the wrong material to "rust."

Hours later
these were dry, but I actually liked the pieces without the added Mod Podge best.

Ruminations:
1. Use any and all types of materials, including plastic, fun foam, chipboard, wood, etc. for this project.  It should make little difference.
2.  Do NOT use corrugated cardboard, because the paint and cinnamon don't settle well in the grooves of the cardboard.
3.   When "rusting" chipboard pieces, be sure to remove the chipboard from the backing before you paint and apply the cinnamon.  I learned that the hard way.
4.  Always write down the name of the blog or web site where you originally found the "formula," so you can a)give proper credit, and b) so you have something to refer back to.

Now you're going to want to see these pieces in action, so here they are after they were completely dry and some of the pieces put to use.

I call this "Homage to my rusty friend."

As always, I appreciate you taking time to visit and staying for my March tutorial.  You will be able to find it on my Tutorials page under "Easy Faux Rust" as soon as this post goes live.  And please join me again next month on the second Thursday for my next scheduled tutorial.  In the meantime, I am delighted you dropped by today.