Faux Hammered Metal Tutorial
Today we’re going to use a craft store staple to knock out some cheap and impressive faux hammered metal letters!
Right now I’m knees deep in redoing my main bathroom. It is the only bathroom with a shower or tub so, as far as I’m concerned it is the only bathroom that counts (since it is the only one guests normally see). Whenever more than one person needs to pee, however, opinions differ and everyone thinks my teeny water closet off my bedroom is pretty fantastic.
I’ve been working on more storage room, making my shower appear bigger and all of that good stuff and decided that I wanted to take the abstract art reprint that has been in there for close to 7 years down. But what to go in its place?
I went into the craft closet to find some inspiration. I had a bunch of 8.5 inch tall wood letters but they didn’t spell anything good. After playing around I figured out if I bought a “C” I could spell clean! How awesome is that?
The look I really wanted was hammered metal. but since I have no idea how to do that or how to get that onto my letters I decided to try something else out. A few bags of 20mm silver sequins later and I had a plan (faux sho’)
Now what is nifty about this is it doesn’t have to be used on just wooden letters. This fun way to emulate hammered metal can be used on just about anything!
For this project you will need:
- 20 mm sequins
(mine are hole at the top) - Hot glue gun
& glue sticks - Wood Letters
- black acrylic paint & brush
- scissors and utility or X-acto Knife
Now most of my letters were already painted black. I did take my new “C” and run black around just the edges. I suggest you do the same for a nice, clean look.
Take a small amount of hot glue and put it on the bottom of your letter. Quickly place your sequins on top of the glue and slightly overlapping one another. You’ll want the sequins to go beyond the edges so the entire piece is fully covered in the end.
Continue gluing down your sequins in kind of a fish scale pattern. They don’t have to be perfectly spaced. Be sure to place the hole in the sequin where it will either be cut off or covered up.
Since you are using hot glue you’ll be able to start trimming up the edges immediately. Using your knife trace the edges of the letter to trim. On straight areas scissors will really speed on the process and make nice, clean corners for you.
Repeat for as many letters as you need. Fair warning, it’s going to look like disco died on your desktop (or at least the disco ball exploded).
Happy Thursday!!
Comments (6)
IrenePal
February 4, 2013 at 5:32 PM
Great! They look amazing… But what about the steam from the shower, maybe you should paint their back with some waterproof paint or something. I wanted to hang also in my bathroom, but the steam is a problem…
Allison Murray
February 4, 2013 at 7:04 PM
You know, Irene, you bring up an excellent point and one I haven't considered. I think that I'll go with a moderate layer of polyurethane to protect…
IrenePal
February 11, 2013 at 6:57 AM
nice! I forgot to tell you that you have a great blog!
Allison Murray
February 11, 2013 at 6:16 PM
Thanks much, Irene :)
Michelle L
March 22, 2013 at 1:54 PM
Hi, Allison! Just saw this on Decor Hacks and had to come see how you did it! That is such a mind blower – I would never have thought you could get that effect from those simple sequins. Fantastic post, thanks for the great idea! Now off to peruse the rest of your blog…
Allison Murray
March 22, 2013 at 1:57 PM
Thanks so much, Michelle – really glad you like it!