Rusty Trunk

Estelle
by Estelle
6 Materials
$15
4 Days
Medium
Change an old rusty trunk into something beautiful and useful.
We thought we could save this poor steel trunk and give it a new life. Could be that water was dripping on it for some time, because it was rusted in a few spots ... especially on the lid.


We painted the rusted areas with a rust converter. They are mostly blue when you buy it here in South Africa.


We then took Dala's Gel Medium, an artist's paint brush, scissors, and a few old magazines.


I did cut out some of the pictures, but the others I just tore out of the magazine and used it as is. Especially the nicely coloured ones
Here you can get an idea of what I did with it.
Take the Gel Medium (Modge Podge works fine too), and paint it on the trunk where you want to 'stick' your first picture.
Be careful for air bubbles and folds in the paper when you place it on the surface, because as the paper gets wet, it starts to stretch.


Put the picture over the painted area and paint another layer of Gel Medium over it. Do that straight away. Make sure all bubbles and folds are out.


I carried on like this all over the trunk. It's a good idea to NOT paint a large area with gel medium before sticking the picture onto it. Paint an area slightly larger than the picture. Stick the picture on and paint over it immediately again. Then carry on with the next one.


Take special care on the edges. You can either stop at the edge or you can fold the paper over the edge so that the other side's pictures can go over that one again. It is actually neater this way.
This is the top of the trunk. I used the smaller, cut out pieces here.


On the sides I used the large pictures. (Some were whole magazine pages)
This is want it looks like up close.
Carry on around the whole trunk.


I painted the bottom with rust converter as well. It only got a final layer of varnish when I was finished.
After the whole trunk (except the bottom) was done, I painted the whole trunk (even the bottom) with Dark Oak wood varnish....


And this is the final result.
We now use it as storage for the table cloths and throws as well as a coffee table.
Suggested materials:
  • Dala's Gel Medium   (Art shop)
  • Artist brush   (art shop)
  • Scissors   (kitchen cupboard)
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Frequently asked questions
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  3 questions
  • Devra Devra on Sep 23, 2017

    Nice!!! I usually just take my magazines to a senior center, but I'll try this . Maybe on TV trays????

  • Juls Juls on Sep 23, 2017

    Did you know what the end results would look like? I scrolled quickly through this not really impressed until that last varnish trick and OMG!! It's absolutely beautiful, and I am not saying this lightly I am dead serious! AMASING!!!!

  • Irene Irene on Sep 24, 2017

    Can you do this with photographs? I have so many and I don't know what to do with them. Any other ideas?

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