How to Rust Shiny Metal in Minutes!

Immediately after you put the peroxide in, your solution should start to bubble and the metal should start to rust. It is really fun to watch. If you’d like to see a full video of this process (instead of still photos), you can find that on my Instagram page here. After a few minutes, use tongs to remove your piece and see if it is rusty enough for you:

If you want it more rusty, just put it back in the solution and check it again in a few minutes. I finally rusted mine to look like this and it took about 7 minutes:

If you’d like, you can then seal the piece with matte or satin spray sealer. This is optional. I just like the way it makes the metal look. Here’s another close up of what they looked like before I sprayed them:

I like to use Rustoleum sealer to seal all that rusty goodness in!

I screwed these into the top of an old window, for hanging:

Here’s the finished look! I really think it is the little details that count. New, shiny pieces would have stuck out like a sore thumb against the patina of the chippy white window. Here it is, all hung up:

By the way, we completely redid this bathroom – new toilet, turnbuckle shelves, new sink (we built the wood base for an Ikea sink), slate tile, and the wood plank wall. All the wood pictured here was hand milled from the trees that burned on our property when we lost our home to the CA Valley Fire.

Thanks for tuning in, and if you try to rust some metal, let me know how it goes!

Happy DIYing 🙂

Xo

Jamey