I like to do lots of wood crafts...in case you didn't notice. Well, the other day, I was making a sign for someone and I had planned on making it look weathered using some stain. Well....I went to go get my stain and it was gone!!! GRRRRR!!!!! If I went and bought stain then it would end up costing more than what I was charging to make the sign. So I needed to find a way to make wood look weathered, that didn't involve staining or burning. So I consulted some creative friends and browsed the internet. I found this idea and figured, what the hey....I'll try it.
It was super easy and I was happy with the results. (and it is super cheap!!!!)
You get 1 wad of steel wool. I found the packages of 12 at the dollar store. Put it in a glass jar and pour in 1 cup of vinegar and let it sit. I let mine sit for about a day. You need to give the acid time to breakdown the steel wool. You won't see the water color change so don't freak and think nothing is happening (that's what I sorta did)
After it has sat, get your supplies together. Use an old paintbrush.
Then just paint away. You won't see a color change right away, but give it a few minutes.
This was my est board before I tried it on the board I was doing my sign. (I didn't want to ruin the good piece) The far left side was 3 coats, the next was 2 coats, and the little bit on the bottom rightish is one coat. So you can get this to do varying shades.
Here is my wood. You can kinda see the patches I missed but it came out pretty dark. And check out that splatter mess on my table....Here's my advice....put some newspaper down. I had to use bleach to get it off.
Here is my finished product. (my missed Patches were covered by ribbon)
This is such a nice, cheap alternative to staining. The only downside is you have to wait a day for the steel to react and of course you get that lovely vinegar smell. The smell will fade on the wood after a few days. And you can still use mod podge on the board and it won't affect the coloring.
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