Zainado: DIY "Vintage" Wall Art

This week is a lets-try-this-and-see-how-it-turns-out project! I wanted to make some vintage inspired metal wall hangings for my kitchen and living room. Ya know, like those 1950's diner signs that advertise 25 cent colas and 10 cent coffee, and other things that were ridiculously cheap a long time ago? I've tried this project out before about a year ago, actually that's where I got the Ice Cream sign that's featured in last week's Cotton Candy Banner post. So I wanted to try it again and make a "Zac's Root Beer Floats" sign for the kitchen because he truly makes the best ones out there! ( the secret is adding more ice cream than root beer. Shh!!!) A bowl of mint chocolate chip ice cream because that's the yummiest flavor of all! And a portrait of Godzilla's son, Minya, because he's the cutest of all.

It's a very simple concept. I print out a google image and glue it to cardboard, trace the image with layers of Elmer's school glue and once it dries I cover it with aluminum foil, paint, seal, and you're done! Sounds easy, right? Well technically it is, but there's a lot of drying time in between! So it requires a lot of patience and a little bit of painting skill, so it might not be the best project for kids or first time crafters.

What I learned from this round of crafting was:

1: Use lots of layers of glue

2: Avoid text because it is a pain in the buuuttt!

3: Don't start this project the day before your blog is due. Oops!

But learn from my mistakes and follow the instructions below, and you'll see that it's an affordable and relaxing way to add some personalized art to your collection.

Here's what you need to get started:

* grocery bags, garbag bags, anything plastic that can protect your work surface

* sturdy cardboard (I used a shipping box)

*aluminum foil

* a photo or printed image that you want on your sign

* Elmer's glue

* Acrylic paint

* mod podge (for sealing)

1) Find a flat surface where you work will be safe and untouched for at least 8 hours. Protect your work surface with a some type of plastic- I used a grocery bag.

2) Figure out what you want your sign to look like. I found some google images and printed them out. I also typed up some text in a word document, printed, and cut and pasted to my google image. Spoiler alert: text is very tricky! I suggest you make the letters as big as possible, or have better artistic skills than I do!

3) Cut around your google image and glue it a piece of cardboard using a glue stick. Apply the glue stick to the front of the image as well to make sure it's flat with no raised edges. Once glue is dry, cut the cardboard into the shape you want your sign to be.

4) Trace and fill in certain parts of your image with Elmer's glue. This gives your sign a raised and textured look and acts as a paint guide once your sign is covered in aluminum foil. So make sure you trace all the edges and fill in areas that you want to stick out more. If you're tracing a face, fill in the cheeks, lips and eyes. Any areas where there's a shadow you can leave alone. Text is very tricky because the glue tends to expand a bit as it dries, so make sure your text is large and chunky, and trace the outer edges. (My text didn't look the same at all when it was done). Allow the glue to dry until it is clear, this can take a very long time depending how much glue you use. You may have to add a few layers of glue after the first layer is dry (which I highly recommend ) so this could take a good 24 hours.

5) Once your glue is dry you can cover your sign with foil. Roll out a fresh piece of foil on a flat surface and lay your sign Face down and cut around it (like wrapping a present) leaving enough foil to wrap around the back of the sign. Flip the sign over and use your fingers to press down and smooth out the foil, allowing the dry glue to show through. This is why it's important to add extra layers of glue so that you can really see your design underneath the foil.

6) Now it's time to paint! This is the part where you move on to the floor and watch old episodes of the twilight zone while you work! Paint your background first. It's not a bad idea to have the original image to use as a guide. If your sign has text, paint that last.

7) Once your painting is all finished and dried, take a thin piece of sand paper and sand your painted sign to age it and expose the foil underneath.

8) Seal your sign to protect it and give it a glossy finish with some glossy mod podge. You can use the spray-on kind or paint on the regular liquid kind. hang your new work of art with poster puddy, or hot glue a paper clip to the back to use as a hanger.