Faux Rust

I had  an idea that I wanted to try, sparked by a sample of encaustic art that I had seen in an old copy of Somerset Studio some time ago. Of course, it goes without saying, that I cannot find the magazine now to give credit to the artist, which I am really sorry about, as it was such a beautiful piece and I do like to give credit if I can.

Anyways, mine is not an encaustic piece, I simply wanted to make something rusty looking, just like all the rusty washers used in the artwork that I had seen.

I started by wrapping some mesh tape that plasterers use, around the edge of a 4" x 6" box canvas. Although it does have adhesive on it, it did need some Gel Medium to make sure it stuck well to the canvas. Then I raided Mark's stash of washers to stick on the front.

When the Gel Medium was dry, I scraped a layer of Grunge Paste through some of the washers for added texture.

After a layer of Chalk coloured Fresco Finish paint, I dry brushed some Toffee Fresco onto the washers. I loved the rusty look, the Toffee was the perfect colour but realised the pale background didn't look right for the embellishments that I had made to go on the top.

After a bit of a re-think, I painted the background with Chocolate Pudding and added some Bora Bora to the washers......much better for this project, although I do plan to make something else with the chalk background, as I liked it so much.

Close up of the side, I love how that mesh picks up the colour of the Bora Bora paint.

 The finished piece with my little felt/paper/metal embellishments.