Meeting "RUSTY" at the game

Hi everyone!  I would like to introduce you to an old friend of mine named "RUSTY"
Actually,... I tell a lie because THIS RUSTY, is actually
a NEW RUSTY to me.  Yet even though I have only just met him, it feels like I've known him forever!  

But let me tell you how it was that we came to meet in the first place.   

It all started with a  Basket Ball Game......

It was a kid's broken pinball- type of toy, which I found at the thrift store. 

I bought the toy with the intention of removing the two plastic fretwork baskets that were suspended inside.  This, I did as soon as I arrived home.  I proceeded to add a new wider rim to the top of each of the baskets (the rims are made of heavy card ).  I then found 2 bases for the baskets in the form of  a  couple of plastic caps which proved to be the perfect fit for the bottom of the hoops and finally I  glued on 4 bead feet for each, to act as supports.  After the glues were dried, both baskets were then spray-painted with several coats of a Matt BBQ spray paint. 

I was pretty happy with they way they looked, but then of course,....
that was before I met 
 RUSTY.

I am a sucker for most "old- looking things" and especially when it comes to Cast Iron whether it's real or in miniature.
These "Cast Iron" baskets needed a little rust, and that is where Rusty came into the picture.
(go and check out the following post for a step by step tutorial)
 http://www.deannario.com/2013/10/creating-faux-rust-diy.html

the tutorial had all the things that I like most:
It was CHEAP! 
It was FUN! 
and it was SOOOOOOO EASY! 
which meant that even I could do it!!!

So because of what the tutorial recommended, I re-painted the black of each basket with an overlay of black acrylic paint.
And while it was still wet, I shook on some
GROUND CINNAMON right over top of the wet paint, and knocked off the excess.




It works!

However, what I found was that the paint dried quicker than I wished, and so I had to keep adding more paint to build up the rust. I was beginning to lose the definition of the wonderful fretwork of the cast iron so I thought of something else.
SCENIC SPRAY GLUE
by Scene A Rama 

I still had lots of this very thin spray glue which I'd purchased from the  hobby train store,
( but available also at MICHAEL'S)
 which was left over from the all of landscaping
that I'd done for #43 Green Dolphin Street, and so I gave the baskets a spray of this lightweight adhesive and then added MORE CINNAMON.  
The results were 100% better!!!!
The cinnamon stuck AND it could be built up, layer after layer without clogging up the fretwork as you can see in the photo below.  It dries super fast, but even after spraying more of this glue onto the painted and "rusted"surface, the details remained clear and true. 

After I got the look of rust that I wanted,  I gave the entire piece an additional spray of the same thin-set glue, to seal the cinnamon onto the baskets and I let dry.

The final touch was to add bits of this lighter grey onto the basket just to break up the rust and make the iron look a little more authentic.

easy peasy!

Not a bad deal for a $5.00 basketball toy and a little bit of cinnamon.

SCORE!!! :D

elizabeth