How to Give a Shiny New Tin an Aged, Galvanized Look
There are many methods to age metal. Depending on the type of metal and the look you want, you can turn your new metal objects into super rusty pieces, chippy, a patina finish or the look of galvanized metal.
I was going for the galvanized metal look and ended up with galvanized metal with rust.
I don't mind the rust. It's always a bit of a chemistry experiment when you try to age metal.
To get the look of galvanized metal which has a dull, uneven finish, you soak your metal piece in toilet bowl cleaner. I used a heavy duty ziploc bag to soak my tin. The tin originally had a very shiny finish. I had used it for another project and it had globs of permanent glue on it. In order to get the glue off I sanded it lightly. This is probably why my piece not only "galvanized" but rusted. That and the fact that I forgot about it and left it soaking outside in the toilet bowl cleaner overnight.
The process is so interesting. I can't wait to try it on another metal piece. The next time I won't sand it and we'll see if I get just a galvanized look.
Want more details about this and other DIY projects? Check out my blog post!
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2 of 3 comments
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Thank you so much @Hannah V This was a fun project / science experiment. I can't wait to rust up some more tins.
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I think it just depends on what you want - to me it looks great!
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