Anthropologie Zinc Look Letters

I love the "zinc look".  I wanted to do a big letter "C" painted like zinc to put on my mantle.  Now, whenever I'm at Michaels, NOT looking for large wooden or cardboard letters, they are everywhere.  You can find every letter of the alphabet, plus punctuation.  The day that I go to get my "C" - not a letter in sight.  Sure, there were a few little 3" letters, but where are the huge letters that, any other day, would be swinging from the ceilings?

I was so determined to turn something grey, that I bought a Peace sign.  Hey, as my Italian husband would say "whatta ya gonna do?"

I painted on a first coat with black Liquitex acrylic.  For the second coat, I used Valspar Satin Interior paint in "Almost Charcoal".  You can buy these little sample containers of Valspar paint in Lowes for $2.97.  They have really pretty colors and they come in handy.  (Tip:  They work well for gelli prints too).  I, sort of, dry-brushed the second coat, then rubbed it with a rag so that some of the first coat would show through.  Finally, for the third coat, I used Martha Stewart's Metallic Paint Specialty Finish in "Silver Polish".  I did the same "dry-brush then rub" technique.

Here's what I ended up with -

 

 I also painted a shelf.  I didn't use the black paint on the shelf first.  It was originally gold.  I just painted the Valspar paint and then the Martha Stewart silver paint.  I think that it looks very Restoration Hardware - esque.

 

 

 

The next thing that I plan to Zinc-ify is a little nightstand.   It's sitting in the middle of my bedroom right now, ready to be painted in the morning.

 

Peace, Cyndi