{ faux galvanized letter }

I love the look of big, galvanized letters. 

I really wanted to find a vintage one for Baker's room, however after looking all over antique & thrift stores, I decided it would be easier and cheaper to make my own.

I bought a big ol' 23.5" paper mache letter from Joann. They run about $10 but if you use your 40% off coupon, it's really cheap!

These are the paints & colors I used- again, very cheap! I think they're around a $1.50 each at Joann or Hobby Lobby.

First, I painted a coat of the flat, Charcoal paint by Delta all over the letter. I let it dry for about a minute (just until it didn't get all over my hands). You can let it dry longer, but I was in a hurry. The whole project took me about 10 minutes.

Because galvanized metal isn't flat, I needed to add some dimension and sheen. I used a scrap piece of fabric, bunched it up, and blotted on the darker metalic paint (FolkArt Metallic in Gunmetal Gray). There wasn't really any rhyme or reason to it - i just blotted and smeared here and there, leaving a tiny bit of the flat color showing under it. Make sure you do this on the inside and outside areas of the letter- not just the face of it!

I used the same technique for the last step but with the lighter metallic paint (FolkArt Metallic in Silver Sterling, and blotted here and there to show some of the darker metallic. 

Don't worry if it's not perfect - you just want the illusion that it's metal! 

Here is the finished product! I poked a hole in the back of the letter and hung it with a small nail. It's so light, you could even hang it with a push pin.

I love how it turned out! Now go make one too!