How to Easily Create Faux Enamelware

5 Materials
$5
2 Hours
Easy

I love antiques but in my area it's hard to aquire them so I wondered if I could make it and fake it to resemble the vintage enamelware. Here's the set that I'll be working on, it will be my tester set and if it works out I'll try it on some other items.

Before Photo


It's just a small metal set with a country style charm finished in a cream and tan flat finish. The only prep I have it was to ensure there were no dust bunnies hiding down I inside.

Look I'm Aiming For


This is the finish I'd like to try and mimic, white with patches of chippy black. Notice the chips along the base, top rim and handle because those I'm going to pay particular note to in order to get mine looking close to the real thing.

White Spay Paint


I'm using a spray paint that has both primer and finish all in one and I'm spraying outside to eliminate the reaction I might get from any fumes. Multiple light coats should be your aim not a few heavy ones, this will likely cause runs and drips on your finish!

Spray All Sides


The spray paint dries really fast, once one side was dry to touch I rotated and flipped the holders to ensure all sides and little crevices were painted.

Adding Black Accent


So now the white paint has dried really well, I left it overnight so now I'm ready to tape off and isolate where I'll be adding the black paint. I removed the handle just to make this job a little easier

How to get the Black Chips


So you'll recall those black chips in the sample jug? I figured if I tore my tape to get a rugged edge I might have found a way to mimic those chips.

Top Rim Taped


So the same way I did the base I'm hearing the tape at the rim of the mouth of the jug. I hope this works....but if not it's no big loss because this is my tester set and I don't have anything of great value ruined.

Winner...it worked!


I applied the tremclad black gloss paint, left it to dry for a day or so and then removed the tape, normallyyou'd remove tape immediately after while the paint us wet. However with this being enamel paint I figured I'd open up one big disaster if a speck of wet black paint touched my nice white finish!

Chippy Goodness Achieved


I'm not going to lie, where I had left the painters tape on the cans until the paint dried, when I removed it some of my white finish came off. I had a quick fix though, I brushed on some Folk Art multi-surface white paint and it covered the boo-boo's just fine.

Not Perfect...but Close


I love how they turned out even with the set back and afterall the biggest room there is is for improvement! I'll keep tweaking the process but in the meantime I'll set these in place to show you how they look.

Farmhouse Style


Placed in a wooden tray along with some spindles, orbs in one and greenery in the other....pretty cute huh? It cost me a few hours of my time but only a few dollars in money and it gave me a big smile....love it!

Full Display


Now do you see the reason why I wanted some old black and white enamelware? Yes, yes that is an original Toledo weigh scale that I purchased because it reminded me of my childhood from visiting my grandfather's small convenience store! That's also a reason for me to smile, wonderful memories of him.

Quick Review in Photos


Here's the process once more from before to after.Side note... the stack of books seen here are featured in a previous post, I recovered old, odd books to make a custom decor set. Thanks for viewing my makeover and always look for a reason to smile!

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  1 question
  • Dolores Dolores on May 17, 2020

    Beautiful! But I’m wondering if you used the spray paint for the edging? I can’t see myself not getting it on the white part even with the tape. Lol

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  • Cynthia E Cynthia E on Jul 25, 2020

    Love this , definitely going to try. Hummmm might even spray a gloss finish over even though white is shiny just to get that extra shine...

    • Thank you, yes the shine sounds good and another Hometalker mentioned adding faux rust with little hints of brown. as a side note, all I had at the time was semi gloss white spray paint, I'm sure gloss would give you that extra shine. Good luck!

  • Lauraleedaydreams Lauraleedaydreams on Aug 17, 2020

    Yes I am following you. And I’m very happy to see this project. I love them!

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