Sunday, September 9, 2012

DIY Faux Patina Finished Filigree Earrings

      Super simple faux blue green patina finished "bronze" filigree earrings

antique style earrings



 I used to do a lot of faux finishes in with my dollhouse miniatures but I never thought to do it on jewelry! You can buy filigree discs from craft stores or "upcycle" old jewelry you already have!  See below for the easy directions.



miniatures, faux finishing ideas
 1:12 scale miniature urn I made from the cap of dish detergent and some fimo clay with a faux patina.




For the earrings, start with  filigree discs; these come in silver, gold, copper and even sometimes a dark antiqued finish, or just use some old pieces of jewelry. If you happen to have dark antiqued filigree you can skip the first two steps!



Step one: (top discs) spray with a primer, I used gray; let dry
Step two: (bottom discs) add a coat of bronze spray paint; let that dry.



faux finishing techniquesfaux finishing techniques

Step 3: Mix up a gray blue green "patina" with some acrylic paint.  I used what I had on hand;  turquoise, dark leaf green, white and brown.  Sometimes you can find a bottle of blue-green faux patina in craft stores. Add a blob of white paint and mix slightly so it looks marbled:

faux finishing techniques




Step 4: Take a slightly damp paper towel, crumple it up and dab some of the mixture onto some paper top get the excess off then blot onto the bronze discs:

faux finishing techniques

faux finish ideas


Last step: Quickly before the paint dries, take another damp paper towel and blot away the paint so some of the bronze shows through:

faux finish ideas
If you want,  you can give these a coat of clear acrylic matte or semi gloss, then add beads and ear wires and you have some cool looking earrings!


shabby chic earrings
These filigree earrings were made from old clip-on earrings with a Shabby Chic finish.



If you don't want to make them yourself,  you can find these antique style earrings in my Etsy shop!



2 comments:

  1. Love the faux part! Ideal for those who don't want to deal with stinky stuff. Will definitely feature on my blog sometime!

    ReplyDelete