How to create a faux rust sign.

Here's a fun little project to try. I start with a piece of Dibond composite panel, and do a quick scratch layout, nothing fancy. I used lettering enamel to do the copy, then let dry. Once dry, I take some isopropyl alcohol on a rag, and rub over the letters to remove the paint. It's a personal choice on how much you want to remove. It's also a good idea to go with the direction of the strokes, makes it look more natural. The rate the paint comes off will depend on how long it has cured. Best to do a few tests first to se how it works

The next step is to use poster paint, either One Shot poster, or Ronan Japan Color, to paint the rust around the edges and scratches on the face. For the rust colours, I use mixtures of brown / black / orange, and yellow. I just pallet mix the colours to keep it simple. I then let the sign dry for a while. If you do the next step to soon, it will remove the poster paint.

The last step is to do a few wash coats to give it the final aged look. For this step, I use paint thinner, tinted with the rust colours to do wash coats. I stand the sign vertically, and with a brush loaded with the paint thinner mix, go along the top and let it run down the face. I will alternate between the tinted thinner and clean thinner to move the wash evenly down the face sign. On a larger sign, I would use spray bottles. You can also do the same with water based paints. I just decided to use oils on this one. Hope you find this of interest. Comments welcomed.

Step by Step: Making a weathered sign with a simple technique called Block Aging.

 Here's a little "Step by Step" on using a simple technique called Block Aging It's a great way to get that weathered sign look with a lot of work.. It's just one of the many techniques used in the film industry. For this type of sign, I like to use a rough plywood, or rough cut board, because of the wood texture. It's really quite a simple process, just put paint on a wood block, drag it over the surface, and voila, instant aged sign. This project was done using water based paints (cheap house paint.) Except for the raw umber age, for that I used artist acrylics. Let me know what you think.

Step 1: The raw sign blank. I like to use a rough plywood for this type of sign, it  gives you lots of texture to work with.You can also use something with a smooth surface. It just give you a different look.

Step 2: After coating the blank out with a flat latex paint, it was time to do the lettering Nothing more than a quick layout, and it's time to paint. Because this Step by Step is about Block Aging, I didn't spend much time on the layout, it just shows the steps. Not that you should spent much time on  a layout for this type of letter style. The brush should do all the work.

 Step 3: It's letter time. For this step, I  used latex house paint, mixed to a muted ivory colour. And a Series 2179  #10 Mack quill, to do the lettering. If you using a water based / water borne paint, make sure to use a brush that's designed for the paint.

Step 4: Once the paint has dried, you can start to block age. The nice part of working with water based paints, is how fast they dry. To Block Age, all you need is a block of wood. Any scrape wood will work, although it should be smooth. I use different sized blocks, depending on the size of pattern I want. Now the fun begins.

                                                                               

                                                                                                                                        

Step 5:  Put some paint on a larger block, And rub the blocks together. This spreads the paint evenly on the surface of the smaller block. I even managed to get through this demonstration without getting paint on my pants. By the way, the One shot reducers in the one picture was just on my paint cart at the time, and wasn't part of the process.

 
Step 6:  Once the block is loaded with paint, lightly drag it over the surface of the sign. I start with the background colour to break up the lettering. You can also mix a few different shades of greyed wood, and base colours, and repeat the process. When applying the paint, it's best the think about how a real sign would age. It really helps to make the aging look believable.  

  


Step 7:  Now I add the aged wood colour. For this step, I'm using a smaller block for more control. A little goes a long ways.

Step 8:  Next step is to add a little raw umber wash to tone down the colours, and give it an old weathered look. If you were doing a bigger sign, a pump sprayer, and spritzer bottles would be used. For this sign, I used a spritzer bottle and a rag to apply the wash.

     The finished sign:  Start to finish, little over an hour. This is a fast process, and works well to create that distressed look, fast and dirty. Hope you enjoyed the step by step.