DIY faux rusted tin cans add a rustic touch to any home decor! They can be used throughout your hone in many different ways. Consider adding them to your office to hold pens and supplies. Or use them in the bathroom to hold brushes, q-tips or other essentials. They can also be used as vases to hold real or fake flowers or as planters for succulents or other small plants.
DIY Faux Rusted Tin Cans
The DIY faux rusted tin cans craft is easy to do using a few things you probably already have around your home. It’s also a great way to keep cans from winding up in the landfill!
Supplies
The supplies you need include:
- Tin cans from your trash bin,
- Embellishments like Chalk Couture Artisan Add-ons (optional). For this project, the Medallion & Accessories Artisan Add-ons were used, but there are several different add-on styles available.
- Acrylic paint in your color choice to paint your cans (optional),
- Chalk paste or acrylic paint in your color choice of to paint the artisan add-ons to coordinate with your cans (if using add-ons),
- Black acrylic paint to age your cans,
- A plastic grocery bag,
- Mod Podge or other decoupage glue,
- Cinnamon,
- Paint brushes,
- Sealer of your choice.
Step by Step Instructions
- Remove the labels and clean your cans.
- You can paint your cans if you’d like or just use them as is.
- Paint the Chalk Couture Artisan Add-ons to match your can and set aside to dry. For this project, Chalk Couture Chalkology Paste in Disco (retired color of the month) was used. Learn more about Chalkology Paste in the Chalk Couture Paste & Ink Guide.
- Age your cans using black acrylic paint and a grocery bag. Dip your bag into some paint and randomly dab it onto your cans. You can use as much or as little paint as you like. For this project, the black paint was used sparingly.
- Apply your add-ons to your cans as desired. The Chalk Couture Artisan add-ons are foam adhesive elements that can be easily applied to your surface.
- Mix some cinnamon into your decoupage glue to create a faux rust mixture. For this project, the ratio was roughly 2 parts glue to 1 part cinnamon, but this was not measured. It was just eyeballed. Use your judgement to get the mixture to your desired color.
- Randomly apply several coats the faux rust mixture to your can letting the mixture dry between layers. You can apply as little or as much as you like to get the desired rusty effect. For this project, four layers of the faux rust mixture were applied using an old paint brush.
Pro tip: Using an old paint brush to apply the faux rust mixture adds texture and dimension to the application.
- Once dry, apply a sealer to your cans to protect the faux rust mixture. For this project, Krylon Matte Finish Protective Coating Spray was used.
- Display and enjoy!
The faux rusted tin can effect is easy to achieve and can be done using supplies you most likely already have on hand. It would be fun to create these in colors that match your decor for a little extra pizzazz! Stay tuned to see if we add more colors to our collection!
DIY faux rusted tin cans add texture and dimension to your home decor. They can be used as vases or planters. They can also be used to organize your office or craft room.
DIY faux rusted tin cans also make great gifts that you can fill with old fashioned hard candies or a supply of pens or markers. Use your creativity to dream up all the different ways these cans can be used or presented to someone you love!
Sustainably yours,
Luana