Faux Metal Hearts #iloverust #rustycrafts #vintage

Have you ever watched Mark Montano? He is a talent that is among other things, a Youtuber, a serious maker and he is often a source of inspiration for me.  Checkout the inspiration for these rusty hearts at Mark's Vlog.

Start with a cardboard heart approximately 6" high.

Next add some embellishments of old jewelry . In this case I have a mix of old jewelry and some old clay pieces. I used tacky glue to adhere my pieces.

Old piece of clay and jewelry parts.

This piece was actually made using  a silicone mold with caulking. Once the caulking dries you remove the casting and you have a flexible embellishment. I think Mark uses hot glue in his castings but either one will work out fine. I just happened to have this one around.

Mix up some brown acrylic paint with some saw dust. If you don't have any stop by Home Depot or Lowe's and collect some from their dropping. I keep a bottle of saw dust in the studio.

This becomes your base and the beginning of your rusty patina. 

After it dried, I added a bit of black India ink.I just spot applied it and added a spritz of water to get it running. (I find it works best working the liquid paint and ink from the top. )This will be another layer in the patina. Once you get the black ink running...btw you can use a liquid version of black paint by adding water to black acrylic paint, hold the heart up to allow the paint to drip down. Once it begins to pool at the bottom you can blot the excess with a paper towel.

 Do the same thing with an aqua paint. Blot as needed along the way. Take the liberty to add some dry brush aqua and or some aqua applied with the already damp paper towel. Let things dry between paint applications.

Repeat the process with an orange paint. I tend to use less of this but play with it. You can always go over it with the other colors to get the effect you want.

Use a small hole punch to create some holes to hang some wire .You ca twirl the flexible gauge wire around a pencil to get a twirly effect.

 I didn't have dark wire so I used red wired and painted it several coats with the brown paint. 

I had some keys I had been working on for a class and decided these would be perfect for the hearts and I gave them the faux patina effect also. 
Everything, including the keys, got a thin coat of Matte Gel. Actually, I did too thick of a coat on one piece and I could see the brush strokes. so go lightly, Holly.























Add a jump ring to the bottom to hang your embellishment .

Here it is among some goodies in the guest room . There's my mermaid wand at the top. 

Soon after I taught this technique to our Artist Trading Card Club . The next day I receive pics of their new rusty projects. #Iloverust #rustisgood #rust #rustycrafts #oldrustygoodness

Leave a comment below if you liked this project. If you have any questions leave them there too. 


With love and gratitude,

Michele

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