How to repaint a plastic photo frame with an aged effect. Imitation game: making your own patina

Painting a picture frame is a rather unusual, but interesting process. In this article I will share some tricks and secrets. We will talk about finishing a self-made baguette or finishing an old one (read about how to make a baguette for a frame with your own hands).

Decorative finishing of the baguette can be done by painting or covering the profile with foil.

To paint the baguette, you can use bronze or silver paint. If you treat it not with ready-made paint, but with bronze powder, then you can do this: first paint the baguette with alkyd varnish or paint of the desired color, and then (while the layer is sticky) spray bronze powder. The bronze particles will evenly settle on the baguette and “stick” to the sticky layer of varnish. This method will give the baguette a spectacular golden look. However, such a paint layer is short-lived. Even when touched with your fingers, the “goldenness” fades. Therefore, it would be safer to additionally coat the dried layer of bronze paint with varnish. But in this case, the varnish will reduce the “golden effect”.

In addition to applying bronze powder, the baguette can be painted directly with ready-made bronze paint. You can make this paint yourself from bronze powder. To do this, you can mix bronze powder either in alkyd varnish, or drying oil, or even in ordinary sunflower oil. If it is varnish, then it needs to be slightly diluted with a solvent. The thinner the varnish, the greater the “goldenness” of the paint, but in this case its strength will be less.

In addition to regular painting, you can create the effect of old bronze. To do this, the baguette is first painted in a dark color: black-brown, brown-green, etc. The paint should be matte. Next, bronze paint is sprayed from a spray can as if “gliding” over the surface. All the “tubercles” of the protruding elements of the relief ornament will be golden, and the indentations will be dark. As a result, we get the effect of old, polished metal.

To imitate valuable types of wood, the baguette is first primed or painted with white, matte paint. Then, the coloring pigment of the desired color is diluted in the varnish (the paint should be translucent). As a rule, it is dark brown with some tint. Next, this paint is applied with a hard bristle brush (even an old and poorly washed one). Coarse hair seems to “scratch” the dark, translucent layer of paint, through which the white base of the baguette will unevenly shine through. The pattern of the wood texture will depend on how you hold and direct the brush. In this way, a wide variety of designs can be conveyed.

When covering a baguette with foil, it is first treated with glue or varnish. While the varnish is sticky, apply the foil to the baguette and press it with a sponge so that it follows the surface relief and fits tightly to the baguette. After gluing the foil, the metal surface can be tinted with translucent paint. If the foil is not golden, but white (aluminum), then it can be given a warm shade of bronze by tinting it with grated lead of colored pencils. The lead is ground to a powder and then rubbed in with a hard brush or rag.

In addition to the methods described above for decorating a baguette yourself, you can come up with a lot of others. By experimenting and improvising, each artist can come up with his own techniques and achieve interesting results in this creative process.

We do not prime the frame with anything, or we apply one thin layer of primer, we don't sand it out. This picture will be slightly aged, and I need a surface with the texture of untreated wood so that the patination composition is retained in it.
Paint the frame in the desired color (1-2 layers). I chose the color from the very motif - it’s milky white and here and there, although it’s not visible, there are light yellow stripes (about uneven painting of the surface, see here, how to evenly apply primer, paint, varnish - here).
Diluted with water a mixture of brown paint and a drop of black(the shade can be changed, make it more brown or more black, or yellowish-brown; you can make it more or less dark; the saturation will depend on the amount of water). And we apply this dark water to the frame, Wash immediately with a dry or slightly damp cloth. If the surface of the wood is uneven, you will get this texture:

4. Cover with matte varnish in 2 layers.

We get a stylish picture, which I already showed in the previous master class:

Frame 2. Artificial abrasions plus dry brush aging.

Here I have chosen a marine motif, there are “antique nautical things” on the chest of drawers, so the frame should match the motif. Our motif determines the style of the frame, so decoupaging a painting always takes less time than decorating a frame for this painting. So, here is the picture itself (there was no frame yet):

There were two options - abrasions on a candle or “on a wash”, but I chose abrasions on a wash, because on our motif the abrasions are more reminiscent of “wash” rather than “candle”))))))

Let's try to repeat this aging on the frame.

We paint the frame brown (you can prime it, you don’t have to prime it, that’s fine). Not even brown, but as brown-earthy as in the motif. Let it dry and you can varnish it (I didn’t cover it).
Mix blue as in the motif (keep in mind that acrylic darkens slightly when drying), paint one layer on one side.

After a few minutes, when the paint has dried, With a slightly damp cloth we begin to wash in those places where there should be abrasions. If you erased more than necessary, no big deal, you can re-touch it. If you have not yet watched the video on the box with abrasions on the launder, watch it.

It turns out something like this:

When all parties are ready, take art bristles with white paint and in dry brush technique we go over the entire surface, bleaching quite strongly her.

Working with a dry brush is as follows:

Take a small amount of paint on the brush;
Wipe off almost all the paint on a napkin so that the brush is almost dry;
We sweep over the surface - and the remaining paint clings to surface unevenness or simply leaves intermittent stripes, as if dusting the surface. We always work from the edge of the workpiece, without leaving clear brush marks.

Here on the frame I poked it further with a brush, leaving white spots. It turned out very picturesque :)

Two layers of varnish - and sea panel can be hung on the wall. It’s good if there’s a steering wheel hanging nearby, you can even do it without decoupage or a bell, and the walls are made of logs, there’s sand and seaweed on the floor, and instead of a bed there’s an old wooden boat (I was daydreaming about something)…

Frame 3. Antique baguette for a still life with flowers.

I took as a basis plastic frame with a beautiful baroque relief(and she was originally white!!! Horror!!!) We prime the plastic 1 layer of aerosol varnish.
Cover it with gold paint In a certain number of layers, depending on the hiding power of our paint, you can first coat it with ocher, then fewer layers will be needed.
After the gold dries, we take bitumen varnish(for lovers of scented products) or any patination agent, or even black-brown paint diluted with varnish. I don’t like scented products, but I really like bitumen varnish, so I’ll show you based on that.

We put on gloves (otherwise you will walk around with black nails for 3 days, and then make excuses that you decoupaged picture frames), Using a sponge, apply bitumen varnish to the entire surface, especially in all the depressions of the relief. With a sponge - because you can simply throw it away later.

4. Immediately wipe off all excess from the relief with a dry cloth, leaving the indentations patinated.

This aging happened on a flat surface:

5. We work especially carefully on small elements:

And erase here more carefully:

Dry for 24 hours according to the instructions (if it is bitumen varnish or bitumen). The rest dries faster.
Let's cover this dark matter non-aqueous varnish(according to the instructions, bitumen varnish is coated with shellac, but, as always, I prefer aerosol).
Additionally, you can walk gold wax on the protruding parts of the relief for more shine.
Everything can be hung in a baroque interior (meh... we need to change the furniture... and wallpaper... and at the same time paint the ceiling with frescoes... oh!)

Do you know that in the endless sea of accessories, a photo frame plays a very important role? After all, it not only frames cherished memories, but is also an attractive decorative element.
Decorate a lady's table in shabby chic style or add a touch of romance to the bedroom, or maybe the kids can make a bright frame with their own hands with funny images and figures?

Today, continuing to replenish my piggy bank with author’s master classes, I have prepared decoupage of photo frames for you. In it you will find a step-by-step description of the execution technique and perhaps create your photo frame in a style that is closer to you and your interior. Here we go.

Materials and tools.

Here's what we'll need in our work:

frame (preferably wooden)
putty
stencils
primer Sonnet (black)
acrylic lacquer
white chalk paint (these are gypsum-based paints)
PVA glue
napkins for decoupage
bitumen varnish
brushes, sponges, cloths.

Frame blanks can be bought at the Ikea store. We prepare it for decoration; to do this, remove the glass and cardboard and put it aside so as not to get it dirty.

Screening.

My idea is to create slightly worn patterns with black paint showing through the wear and with delicate rose flowers in the corner. Let's see what happens, but for now we apply putty through a stencil. I use Parade acrylic finishing putty (it is very finely grained and sands well), and if you don’t have one, you can replace it with putty from any other company or use an artistic texture paste.

I apply putty to one side and let it dry slightly so as not to spoil it when I apply it to the other side of the frame.

My stencil has an adhesive backing and is very convenient to work with. If everything is ready, let the patterns dry well for an hour or more. After drying, lightly sandpaper to remove small particles that are not attached to the surface. Of course, they will all come off later anyway, but it is better to do this before painting with primer.

Primer.

Cover with black primer and dry.

After the primer, I applied acrylic varnish, this will probably seem a little strange to you, but without varnish, the primer easily came off when creating scuffs, along with the paint that I washed off. If you have enough time, you can do without additional varnishing and let the primer dry thoroughly, or better yet, leave it overnight.

Chalk paint.

Now we are working with chalk paint. But I want to note that to create delicate scuffs, it is not necessary to use chalk paint. This effect can be achieved with artistic paints. You can read how to do this at this link.

I have this decorative white aging paint Shabby Provence from Borma Wachs.

I tint it a little by adding a drop of vanilla art paint. The white color takes on a warmer, milky hue.

I apply it with a brush to the entire frame.

Let it dry and arm yourself with a damp cloth. We rub those areas where these very traces of time will be, i.e. abrasions.

I’m going through the ends, the stencil patterns, and I ended up with this, not yet completed, “shabi chic” frame, but I already like it.

Decoupage

For decoupage, I chose these roses on a white background, which I printed on my printer.

If you do not have such a napkin with a white background, then you will need to cut out the image from any other napkin clearly along the contour.

Glue it to the corner of the frame. I use ordinary construction PVA glue from Lakra. So far it has never failed, the main thing is that it doesn’t turn the napkin yellow.

Using a soft brush, we begin gluing from the middle of the napkin.

If folds form, as happens with beginning decoupage artists, do not be discouraged. When the napkin has completely dried on the surface, the folds can be sanded with sandpaper No. 600-800.

I wanted to add more drawing to this side. Let it be.

The picture seemed very bright and saturated to me, so I lightly painted the dried, sanded napkin with transparent white paint.

The paint will become transparent if you add a little water to it.

Well, the colors have become more muted and now we can fix our beauty with varnish.

I coated it with Dulux celko acrylic matte varnish.

Patination

You can get it dirty with bitumen varnish, as in this case. We take bitumen varnish onto a small piece of sponge, beat the sponge on a sheet of paper so that just a little bit of varnish remains. Otherwise, the varnish will apply a very rich brown color, and we only need to darken the frame slightly. We apply it as shown in the photo.

Bituminous varnish takes a little longer to dry than acrylic varnish; it will still remain sticky for about an hour.

If you overdo it, you can remove the excess from the surface with white spirit.

Brags

And voila, the frame is ready!

Another master class on decorating antique frames is coming very soon, stay tuned for the news.

And these are shots of what the girls and I once did at one of the events at the Bereginya school of handicrafts.

What kind of frames did you get? Good luck in your creativity, new ideas and inspiration! Thank you for stopping by, see you again.

If you have frames made of untreated wood or simply boring ones that have lost their attractiveness, then you can completely transform them by “dressing” them in black, shading them with elegant gilding. All you need is paints and brushes, simple equipment and a little time. And you will give the most ordinary frames a noble “antique” look. And then all that remains is to place paintings or photographs in such luxurious frames and decorate your interior of your home.

You will need:

Old or new wooden frames;
acrylic paints (black, bright gold, pale gold);
soluble shiny varnish for finishing;
latex gloves;
small and medium-sized flat brushes;
round brush for painting;
medium grit sandpaper;
Toothbrush.

Operating procedure:

You can choose one of the methods listed here or a combination of them. When the frame is finished, be sure to apply a coat of glitter varnish to it!

Finishing with sandpaper

Paint the frame gold by mixing bright and pale gold paints. Apply a coat of black paint. Leave to dry. Then sand the frame in places with sandpaper so that the golden background appears slightly. Using a paint brush dipped in gold paint, decorate the frame with your own design. On flat or smooth frames, draw a light border or make a simple pattern along the edge of the frame.

Finishing with a dry brush

Paint the frame black and leave to dry. Dry your flat brush thoroughly and dip it into a large amount of gold paint. First, run the brush over a clean piece of fabric, and then over the frame, so that visible traces of paint remain. Apply a pattern to the frame with gold paint.

Finishing with a toothbrush

Paint the frame golden and leave to dry. Heavily dilute the black paint with water in a saucer. Place a toothbrush in the saucer and, wearing rubber gloves, spray paint onto the frame without tilting your face close. Decorate the frame with black paint to suit your taste.