Simple rusting tutorial

Whenever I see a surface that calls me to somehow,
I imagine.... rusting.
That's what happened when I saw this simple
plastic clock; I had to have it and I knew
what HAD to be done.

The Sophisticate Finishes Iron Surfacer comes in
a 4oz bottle and is a dark grey, heavy cream consistency.
I always need to shake it well so all the ingredients
are evenly mixed. In my estimation, after using this
product for years, there is some "real" iron and steel
in this bottle. First of all, the bottle is really heavy. (first clue, huh?)
There's a glass ball that rolls around inside the bottle when
you shake it so when you hear that sound
you know its well shaken.

Next, I pour some out into a little yogurt cup
and with a small sponge brush, I apply the surfacer to the
the clock.
OOOPs, first you might want to rough up the surface of the
clock, since it's a smooth plastic. I either sand it with a fine sandpaper,
or something new that I found etches plastic quite nicely is
Citra Solve Concentrate. Just brush on a coat all over
the plastic, let it sit a while and wipe off with a damp sponge or cloth.
That stuff really etched a plastic cup for me so it is something
that I would recommend.

Here I am applying a coat of the surfacer to the clock.
It looked fairly thin to me after the first coat so I gave it a
second coat after this one dried. The best thing to do is
wait until the next day to do a re-coat. I am not a very patient
person, but I will find more things to rust while I am waiting
and time goes by fast anyway.

When the iron surfacer has dried completely, it's time to apply
the rust solution. This too comes in a 4 oz bottle
and is very liquid, like water although the color is a light blue.
I generously apply this over the entire surface and then it's time
to wait.... again. Sometimes I will get out a hair dryer or
a heat tool to speed things along, but in the long run, time
and patience is of the essence.


Not rusty enough for you? Add another coat.
It's not rocket science - it's ART, so go for it.

Look at the texture after the rusting solution is applied! Isn't it amazing?

Rusting away in Saluda

The Studio here at Random Arts was
filled with 12 very excited artists last Friday, trying
their hand experimenting with the ever changing
iron and rust makeovers of everyday objects.

Each person had a chance to coat several objects with
iron and/or copper surfacer
and while that was drying, the pre-coated
pieces were just waiting for the rust & patina
to be applied.
This is one of those classes where "patience"
comes in handy and if were short of that,
the pre-coated pieces really got the iron rusting.

We applied iron refinisher to cloth leaf ribbon, aluminum
alphabet letters, manila tags, felt ribbon,
distressed cardboard boxes pieces,
buttons, wholey paper, plastic stencils and lots more.

Not only did we rust and patina a multitude of
objects, a layered collage technique using Golden Paints
was used for the pyramid box to take pieces home.


Thanks to all my little "guinea pigs" who
paid only $15 for me to test out a class that I am teaching
at Artiscape in Ohio next April.

The general consensus was "great class Jane!"

Big thanks to Valerie Summers who thought to take
pictures and was nice enough to send them to me.