Cherishing A Sweet Life: patina

Sunday, June 21, 2015

DIY Faux Patina Flower Pots

One of my earliest childhood memories, is of my great-grandmother's garden.

She lived in a house built in the early 1900s.

A few things, I remember are that

the wooden floors creaked,

the house smelled old,

and her garden had some of the loveliest

patina covered urns!

I felt like I was running through a Secret Garden!

I was very young maybe 4 or 5,

but there were giant Sunflowers,

and the prettiest, sweetest

smelling fragrant roses ever!

Then I would see these urns.

It was not only their rusty charm,

but shades of greens and turquoise,

that caught my eye, even as a small child,

I've been attracted to these colors

As I was planting more basil and peppermint,

I looked at my old clay pots,

and I knew they needed more color!

Looking at DIYs for faux patina,

I wanted more of a painting technique,

and I found this one.

I went out and bought 4 acrylic paints.

*Metallic chocolate brown from Folk Art

*Turquoise

*Bimini Blue

*Spring Green from Apple Barrel
*Mod Podge

First, I completely rinsed out all the debris out of the clay pot, and let it completely dry.

Then I painted the entire outside of the pot with the Chocolate brown.

I love seeing the metallic sparkle it gave.

Let that completely dry.

After that, I mixed the Spring Green and the Bimini Blue together, and watered it down.

First, I painted on a small portion, and dry rubbed it with a cloth towel, until

I saw the desired patina color effect.

It doesn't necessarily have to be dry, when you add the final color turquoise.

Finally, I used a cloth towel to dry rub the turquoise over the spring green/bimini blue combination.

What I love about this DIY, if there is too much of one color, take a damp cloth, and swipe over the area lightly, not to go too far to the chocolate brown,

Or you can go back and add more color in another area, until you are happy with the look of your pot!
*UPDATE* To help protect the colors of the pot from the weather, I went back and completely coated the outside with ModPodge!

Another flower, I loved seeing in my great-grandmother's garden were her brightly colored Vincas.

The hot pink and fuschia really shows off the turquoise- green patina color!

Hope you enjoyed the tutorial!

Have a beautiful day!

xo Christine