Easy Way To Age Metal

Although there are ways to chemically age metal, the easiest

way (in my opionion)  to make metal objects have an aged

look is to use paint. You also have more control over the

look of the aging process and in the final outcome. 

You can look on Pinterest or other places on the internet

to get an idea of what actual old buckets, etc. look like

to mimick the look with paint. 

To age some olive-type buckets that I got from WalMart

(thanks to Yvonne at Stone Gable blog letting us know

about) I gathered up some acrylic craft paints from my

stash in rusty colors. 

They were such a good price that I got five of them.

These are sold out at WalMart now but due to the popularity

of this type bucket, I am seeing more of them in other stores.

You can use this technique on any type of metal objects that

won't be left outside. The paints I used were craft paints 

which are not waterproof.  I tried sanding on one bucket to

see if that would make less shiny but actually it made it 

MORE shiny and took away the galvanized look.

Here's a close-up of one of the buckets before painting...

 The vintage olive buckets that I liked the look of the most,

were rusty along seams, openings and handles so that is 

what I tried to copy with the paint. 

The colors that worked best for the look I wanted were the reds and browns...not the metallics.

The "tools" that were used mainly were paint, nubby paint

brushes, crumpled paper towels and plastic wrap. A sea

sponge could also be used in place of a brush to get the

paint on the metal in an uneven or mottled pattern. 

Use a pouncing motion to put the paint where you want it on

the metal. Immediately after applying the paint, dab it with

the crumpled paper towel and/or plastic wrap. Work in small

patches at a time so the paint does not have time to dry before

you get to pouncing it with the paper/wrap. 

1. Pounce on paint with brush or sea sponge

2. Pounce on top of wet paint with paper towel

and/or plastic wrap to soften the look of the paint.

1. Pounce on

2. Pounce off

If too much paint comes off, just add more. Even layer

other rusty colors for more authenticity. 

1. Pounce brown paint on top of dried red paint

2. Pounce off some of the brown paint

I was not brave enough to try a sealer on the paint.

I thought no matter how "matte" it was, it might add shine.

I am using the buckets in a covered area by my back door.

The paint (so far) has held up well in that area. 

Here's how the buckets looked with mums in them 

during the Fall...

To elevate the mums in the buckets, pine bark mulch was added

to the bottom until the flowers were at the right height.

The mulch is still in the bottom of the buckets and ready 

to help elevate Spring flowers .

Filling five buckets with flowers can be pricey so I did a

little cheating for Spring. I pulled some artificial daffodils

out of the attic and bought a few new bunches on sale.

Usually it's the greenery on artificial flowers the "give them 

away" so I bought some liriope (or monkey grass) to mimick

real daffodil greenery...I'll plant it in the yard later.

The liriope had been sitting outside at the garden center 

and was kinda weathered looking. After a shot of leaf

shine, (either one) they looked great.

The "Design Master Leaf Shine" came from Michaels; the "Schutlz Leaf Shine" came from Home Depot.

I didn't want any of the plastic pots to show but I also wanted

to keep the pots on the liriope. Some extra potting soil was

added to the bottom of the the liriope pot to elevate the grass.

More pine bark mulch was used if needed to get the top

of the grass at the right height in the metal bucket. 

Now for the "cheater" part...artificial daffodils.

Push down any greenery down the stem or cut it

off completely. Also be sure to cut off the tag (duh).

The flowers are easier to store year-to-year if you can keep

them on the original stem. If you need to cut them off the

stem to help them look more real, just do it. 

You will probably need wire cutters to separate the flowers from the main stem. 

Push the artificial flowers'  down into the real liliorope.

Bend the stems, spread them apart, fiddle with them

to make them look natural in the liriope. 

 Add pine bark mulch (or other filler) around the plastic pot. 

You could stop here or if you want to add some moss.

To add variation to the height of the pots small bowls, etc.

were added underneath the buckets...that is optional.  

None of our back door visitors have been able to tell that

the Spring daffodils are not real. 

 The "Easter Snap" (a blast of cold weather after a period

of warm weather here in the South) is coming this weekend

but it won't bother these daffodils. 

If this paint treatment does wear off on your metal items

just add more layers of rusty colors of paint with 

the same technique to add more layers of "years" . 

I hope you have a blessed Easter weekend!