Faux Zinc Letters

Today I'm going to show you another method to make something look zinc. There's so many tutorials out there and this is just one more. I think it's about the easiest! I actually made these letters for our Valentine's Day dinner. I had made so many posts for that holiday I left this post out. I was thinking, people may want to hear this method, so here you go. I plan on doing the other letters in this kit by Tim Holtz and making the letters for family. I'm going to mount them on board and then hang them mixed in with black and whites of our family going up the stairs. When that project gets done, I'll post it as well.

Okay, these great letters brought to you by: Tim Holtz. I bought these at Tuesday Morning for $3.99. They retail for $19.99 and unless I had a good coupon wouldn't buy them. I did get them cheap though and once opened found they were the feel of leather. They are compressed board and patterned and really cool. Chipboard letters, wood letters etc. would work for this technique.

Label of package so you can go find them if you want :)

First I coated in black acrylic paint. I only use Ceramcoat or Folkart brand for non-professional paints. They are good for coating items and usually only require one coat.

Coat with black.

Looks like Urban Art when you pick up letters....cool...focus!

Next take Rub 'n Buff (bought at craft store under $4-goes a long way)

and lightly brush across letters. Careful to dry brush this or everything will turn silver. Just go back and re-coat with black and try again if that happens.

See how little I have on the brush, just dry brush this.

That's it folks! I mean really simple. I had the letters done in less than 10 minutes. I'm trying it on chunky letters as well.

Hope you enjoyed this tutorial. I'll be back later this week with a great tutorial on bright green metal scrub pads from the Dollar Tree ...oh the suspense!

Until next time Dear Reader,

Chatty Cathy