Today I found out that maybe, just maybe, I might become an artist after all.  You know…kind of like Grandma Moses who started painting in earnest at the age of 78. The month I go on Medicare I find out I can actually come up with a piece of art on my own….visualizing something in my head and having it actually become a piece of art before my eyes.  What a rush!  But, before I quit my day job (retirement)….ok and teaching online part time and painting and selling furniture and pieces of art I create, I confess I was inspired by a technique I learned from an excellent video I saw in one of my painting groups. But, hey! Let me have my moment.  I usually have to see something someone else does and be inspired by it and then create what I’ve seen done. Yes, I am usually a follower.  Today, I “moved to the front of the line”, if only for a moment, and it felt great!

Now that you know I am this famous artist, I’m going to show you how I learned this awesome technique of creating rust with paint and cinnamon. Yes, cinnamon!  It is really pretty amazing and so much fun to do.

First things first:  You have to watch this awesome, awesome, awesome video tutorial on how to create rust by Fiona Debell.  This lady is very talented and I love that she shares her talent.  Otherwise, I would have never known I could be an artist, even if it is for just one project.  So, here is the video, linked here with Fiona’s permission.  https://www.facebook.com/fiona.marie21/videos/10155133360103787/ 

So how did I become an artist today?  It was an accident.  After watching Fiona’s video, I thought I would practice her technique.   I was also inspired by a wonderful lady who is on several of my painting groups and uses this technique on clocks she makes.  Thank you Carla Abbie Shaw of Catalyst Creations!

I was in Dollar Tree and I saw these neat square pictures labeled Wall Art on the back and all encased in plastic.  I thought the art must be a thin piece of wood or heavy cardboard so thought that would be good for practice, so I bought one.  When I got home and removed the plastic, I saw it was actually a picture frame and the wall art was a piece of paper.  Hmmm…I wondered if it would be possible to use this technique on glass?  Now, I know that glass is a pretty slick surface for paint, but Fiona did show that once dry, the paint she used was hard as a rock and didn’t scratch off, but still, I wasn’t sure about glass. Since I was experimenting, 
I decided to give the glass a little grip and sprayed it with Zinsser spray shellac.  I honestly don’t know if the shellac made a difference or not, but the paint I used became as hard as a rock on the glass and doesn’t scratch off, so I’m not taking any chances and will use Zinsser on future pieces.  

Supplies:

*Square Picture frame (Wall Art) from Dollar Tree – Size 10″ x 10″

*Chalk paint – I sell a brand of chalk paint so naturally I used my brand which is Missouri Limestone Paint.  I used “Coal Shovel” (black), “River Bottom Dirt” (brown) and “January” (white).

*The magic ingredient to get good texture – I used a powdered limestone I bought on Amazon. See photo in the Step Section below.

*Cinnamon – yes, the kind you use in your food.  The plus side of this is your project starts smelling really nice.  You might get hungry at this point.

*Stencil of Missouri – I found a free Silhouette cut file online.  I resized it to about 6.5 W and 7.75 H.  Here’s the link to the state file.  They have one for every state.

*220 Sandpaper for very, very light sanding on the map

*Furniture Wax – clear and dark

Process:

Step 1:  Mix the powdered limestone with the black and brown paint until you get it so thick you can put it on the glass pane with the stir sticks.  I know it is hard to see but the pane of glass is lying on the tablecloth with some of the paint on it.  

Step 2:  Add a little black and then a little brown and blend them together.  You’ll still want some of the brown showing but you don’t want to see two distinct colors, you want them to blend.  Dab around until you like the look you get.  Save any leftovers of this and some “January” to dry brush the frame later.

Step 3: You are now going to sprinkle a little cinnamon over your wet textured paint, probably a little more on the edges, where you would see more rust. Kind of stand the pane of glass up and tap the back so any loose cinnamon will fall off.  Don’t disturb the rest.

Step 4:  Let dry.  The drying process will take awhile as your paint is so thick.  I let mine dry overnight.  Just like with Fiona’s brand of paint and texture medium, mine was as hard as a rock when dry.

Step 6:  I also dry brushed the picture frame with the white and left over black and brown texture material until I got the look I wanted.

Step 7: I used a little 220 sandpaper and lightly distressed the map a bit…Very light.

Step 8:  I used clear wax over the whole thing, and then the dark wax.  The dark wax is what gives the map that rustic look.  It really is hard to remember this beautiful piece of art started out as a pane of glass in a picture frame.

My experiment became my first piece of art I created. If you make one, please add a photo of your project to the Comments below.  I’d love to see how others turn out. Thanks!

Final Reveal:  Rusty Missouri Glass

 

 

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