Creating Faux Rust

Possibly let it ice would be more use :-)

I love faux finishes. Especially when they are easy and quite convincing. And it makes me laugh inwardly that I am creating rust when I remember how long my father spent removing it from things. He wasn't a crafter though!

Sometimes it only needs a little detail...

Well, I am having a bit of an in love moment with rust this Christmas. It is something that you may not have thought of adding to your cards at this time of the year but do bear with me.

It is a lovely textural element.

This is a great upcycling project and do save your cereal boxes for the cardboard. It is the best thing ever. I have done today's demo on a piece of white card stock and I did encounter problems and I did fix them so I will show you that too.

It is quite convincing - I think that my Dad would be getting his steel wool out!

You will need a manual die cutting an embossing machine. I use a Sizzix Big Shot and various embossing folders and dies.

Loving this outdoorsy theme!

I have used DecoArt products to create this rust including a surprise addition which I think that you will like.

Have to have a deer in there somewhere.

Okay, so what do we need to get together for this?
-DecoArt Chalk Finish Medium (this will help to keep the paint very matte)
-DecoArt Patent Leather paint: black
-DecoArt Americana acrylics: payne's grey, russet, georgia clay
-DecoArt Metallic Lustre: black shimmer
You will also need: toothbrush or splatter tool, rags, an older brush, general painting needs

The snow flurry is a great way of making the background details recede.

Before we start, let me introduce the surprise ingredient in this project. Patent Leather paint. That's right! This is a brand new product and it is actually for painting shoes to change their colour. I don't have patent leather shoes so I went exploring with this and I found that it dries shiny (as you would expect) and holds a shape so if you splatter it, when it dries, it holds a shiny splatter shape - perfect for the look of corrosion on metal!

You can see the dried paint in this shot. The first time I used it, I forgot that it was supposed to be shiny and kept looking at it thinking, hmm, shiny equals wet! Duh....

Begin by die cutting and embossing some shapes. I am working on a flat panel which will become the back of a card. I have used plain white card stock for this to see how it would go.
Mix a blob of payne's grey with an equal amount of chalk finish medium and coat the card or shape all over.

I apologise for the appalling photography, it is the time of year here in Europe and there was no natural light!

At this point, I saw that there was a difference between the card boards once they are slightly wet by the water content in the paint even though they felt the same to begin with. Chip board and cereal packet will keep the shape of the embossing pattern. White card will not /(well the one that I had wouldn't). Don't worry though, simply re emboss when the black splatters are dry.

I was working on a few things for this technique. On the flat panel, the splatters will look exactly the same. Watch this space for cards using these shapes too!

So next come the splatters, use the black Patent Leather paint and go in really liberally all over. To get a corroded spot, don't move the splatter tool; concentrate the effect in one spot. This marvellous paint will hold the shape quite well.

If you need to, re emboss at this point. Then go in with russet paint. don't make it a complete coverage this time and be ready with a wet wipe and wipe the paint here and there off the background....

Sorry about the change of motif again (blame the light conditions). But don't worry, the technique is exactly the same.

Next comes georgia clay. This is the one where you will see the embossing relief clearly. Once again, have the wet wipe ready and wipe most of the paint off so that it is really only a highlight.

The technique tip is: paint all over and then wipe the excess off. Knowing what to leave and what to remove is the key and this only takes a bit of practice. If you get it very wrong, simply repaint with the first coat and start again.

The lighter orangey brown really shows the embossing pattern nicely.

Lastly it is time for some finger painting! Rub some of  the Metallic Lustre onto some of the high points of the embossed pattern so that you have a graphite effect...

As you can see, each successive layer has to be slightly less than the previous one so that you don't just paint over the piece completely.

Subtle is the word with this. Go slowly and add more as needed. Be ready with the wet wipe to remove the excess.

As you can see, all of the previous layers are still visible but only here and there.

Have a look at some of the other Christmas shapes that I have been working on and you can see how realistic and versatile it is...

On the poinsettia and the deer, I have only used a general but small scale die. The snowflakes are matching die and embossing folder sets. As you can see, it doesn't matter so if you don't have matching sets. just opt for a small motif with plenty of repeats.

You can see my random embossing choices better here. It is not necessary to emboss but it does give you something to work with.

Here are some more examples of what the effect looks like in the 'wild'...

The rusty look looks really nice with outdoorsy themes and it gives wonderful texture.

and a bit of a close up...

This is a random, small scale embossing folder used on cereal packet card.

and another one..

Deer look great with a random embossing pattern and rusty finish.

Do have a go at this fun technique. You can use it on so many different things. Honestly, cards are only the beginning!
See you next time
love Debs
xx