DIY Galvanized Faux Paint Finish

Note: You can achieve as gray a look as you want with this process. For this side of the board I opted to copy an antique zinc sap bucket & hit it dead on. On the other side I went for a more traditional galvanized bucket & hit it about dead on too!

I mixed a dark graphite gray like color from oops paint, craft paint & joint compound to make diy chalk paint. I scraped it on my board with a credit card so I would get some nice texture for following layers to gather into. I then watered down some light-med gray craft paint to make a wash, brushed it on the board & used a damp rag to wipe it back. Which led to here:

I then waxed the board with Briwax, headache inducing wax, even outside. Let it set up overnight & buffed it out.

I mixed up a splash of water, two splashes of mineral spirits, a tiny dribble of liquid silver leaf, & a pea-sized drop of wax. Scientific, I know, to get a metallic wash. I used a chip brush to paint it across my waxed board, this separation will happen naturally over the wax. I sprayed it heavily, SOAKED it with a water bottle until I was happy with the pattern & left it to dry overnight,sopping wet. Like this:

The next day, I used my same gray paint wash, brushed it on, then used a damp rag with a bit of the wash on it to pounce up& down all over the board & left it to dry. Like this:

I repeated the last step one more time. After it was dry I used a foam brush& put a few coats of polycrylic sealer. This after a failed attempt to wax it again...duh, the wax just rubbed the wash off.  It held just fine despite the fact you're not supposed to be able to poly over wax. I can't attest to the durability of this for say, a furniture finish, but this will be a sign. I'm thinking it would be alright though, it seems pretty well adhered.

Now for the other side of the board. It was the side that I started waxing & my gray wash rubbed off! So I used a silver & a white paint pen alternating them...I dotted all over the dark area& quickly smooshed it around, dabbing with my t-shirt rag I used for the gray washes. I also used the gray wash & metallic wash in that area until it didn't stand out like a sore thumb.

But ignore all that, because you won't be making the same mistake! Essentially, just by continuing with the gray wash & a few coats of metallic wash, some wiped down, some pounced at (as described above) you just continue until it looks the way you want. Or you could opt to start the whole project with a lighter shade of gray...just not too light, because it gets it's realism from the depth in the layers.

Onto the next!