Wednesday 19 September 2012

French Placemats & A Tutorial On Creating A Rusty Patina On Wood!

I have lost my voice!!!! We are re-landscaping our backyard, working on it every weekend. I have so much to do....and so many people to call and coordinate stones and delivery etc and now I have lost my voice!!! It's quite frustrating!

Well on a happy note....all the projects that I have been working on are almost finished!

Here are new French inspired 'Provincial' placemats, set of 8. These sold already...and now I have to start making a new set of aged sheet music ones. 







And now onto an almost completed project...an outdoor clock. I wanted a rusted patina wooden clock for my backyard. I had a few pallets left over from a previous project. Well to cut a long story short, my lovely husband put the pallets together, I sanded them and then used this amazing product to give the wooden pallets a vintage rusty patina. Huh...what?...I hear you say, well here is the story in pictures which also kind of serves as a short tutorial. 

The clock isn't finished yet, but the ground work's been done!

 This is the space (backyard) where the outdoor clock will be hanging, right above the Cafe Jolie sign.

Close-up of the space.

Putting the pallets together. 

 It's super heavy!

 Sanding the 'clock'.

Okay...see the light colour of the wood......now the magic begins!!!

 This is the magic potion!!!! Available at any hardware shop. But it's expensive!!!


Part 1: Paint the pallets with the rust paint, it does on quite dark. (Remember to wear gloves when you paint; paint in an airy space, preferably outdoors and wear a mask if you have allergies like me!) 

Let it dry for at least 2 hours. That is the most difficult part for an impatient person like me.

 Okay, after 1-2 hours, this is what the dried up version looks like.

To give you guys a better look, here is a close-up.


Now to the fun part, Part 2: paint on the rust solution and let it dry....overnight!!!! Hah! I know right, I couldn't wait 1 hour....overnight! But trust me, you need to let it cure overnight for the magic to happen. When I woke up the next morning, I ran to the garage to see my creation and here it is!!!


How beautiful is that?
 It's more than what I imagined it would be.... I love the teal of the oxidised corrugated vintage iron look. Who would have thought that it's made out of wooden pallets!!! 

Overnight from wood...to vintage rust! Looks like its 100 years old!!!



Ohhhh! the patina is swoon-worthy!!!!

 The Before

The After

Well there you have it. I'm on the lookout for some antique clock hands and the mechanism. But even without turning it into a clock, I love the way it looks and the longer I leave it,  the more rusty patina it develops! I wonder how it'd look hanging in my living room?

Thanks so much for stopping by! If you have questions about the rust paint and solution, leave me a comment and I'll answer them.

xox
Rani


3 comments:

  1. Cute placemats Rani - and I love your idea for the clock - look forward to seeing it finished!

    Hope you get your voice back soon, I lost mine at the beginning of the year and know how horrible and frustrating it is!

    Thanks for linking to a Round Tuit!
    Hope you have a fabulous weekend!
    Jill @ Creating my way to Success
    http://www.jembellish.blogspot.com/

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  2. Hi Rani, thank you for linking your amazing tutorial to Project Queen's Link Party! I will be featuring it Monday evening at the Highlight Party. I need to get some of this stuff!!!! Sounds like you need to rest and get your voice back. Take care.

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  3. Hi Mandy,
    I love the rusty wood technique you featured :-) I can't wait to give it a try! I have a wood wall plaque that his technique would be really cool on. You can see it in this post, http://thelemonista.blogspot.com/2012/09/shades-of-grey-french-farmhouse.html
    Erin

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