The Faux Patina Technique is a fun and simple way to create a vintage look on your cards. It involves a mix of green, blue and metallic colors to create the patina.
What’s a patina?
Patina is the term used to describe a greenish blue colored film that forms copper and bronze metals due to natural corrosion as they age. The greenish blue colors on the copper or bronze metals create a very cool vintage effect. That’s the vintage look I will show you how to create today on your cards.
Faux Patina Technique – Heat Embossing
There are a variety of different ways to create the Faux Patina look on cards. One of the most common ways is to randomly apply copper or gold embossing powder to add the metallic look and create the patina. The heat embossing method is a bit tricky to do and requires practice. You will need some embossing powder, versa mark and a heat tool.
The prep of the cardstock is the same as I what I demonstrate in today’s video (i.e. sponging blue, green and brown colors over textured, embossed, cardstock). However, it’s the random application of the versa mark and embossing powder that takes practice. Dabbing too much versa mark across the cardstock can create a big blob of yuck. And if you don’t apply enough versa mark, you will not achieve the right results. You can definitely achieve a very cool patina look with heat embossing but today I am going to show you a much simpler way.
Faux Patina Technique – Shimmer Paint
In today’s video, you will learn how to create a Faux look, a vintage style look, on your card using Shimmer Paint (Stampin’ Up!). This Faux Patina Technique involves sponging ink colors and some metallic shimmer paints across a piece of embossed cardstock. The use of shimmer paints makes it so easy to create the faux and patina look. It’s requires a lot less product and I find that it is much easier to apply than using the traditional heat embossed method.
The first card features the traditional Faux Patina Technique with the greenish blue patina peeking through some Copper Shimmer paint on the Tin Tile Embossed cardstock.
This second card features a Faux Patina Technique using Copper and Gold Shimmer Paint over some embossed black cardstock. You might notice that the greenish blue color is not present in this card. That was purposeful! For this card, the use of copper and gold shimmer paints on the embossed black cardstock gives the appearance of oxidized metal.
Faux Patina Technique – Video Tutorial
If you are intrigued by the Faux Patina Technique, be sure to watch this week’s video tutorial. You will learn how to create these two vintage style cards showcasing the Faux Patina Technique. You will also learn a fun way to use ink with your embossing folders.
Watch the video HERE
Download the instructions for creating the cards featured in this video along with some other fun card making ideas HERE
Loved the video. Thanks for sharing. This was my favorite set from the Holiday Catalog. So easy to follow your videos. You are precise, easy to listen to and simple. Listing all the supplies listed first is a great idea.
Thank you Gracemarie! It’s one of my favorites too! Glad you enjoyed the video! I appreciate the feedback!
Great video showing the faux patina technique! I’ve never tried it but will now…it’s not as difficult as I’d anticipated. Thank you so much for sharing it!
Thank you Lynda! It is a really simple technique especially if you use shimmer paint. It’s a little trickier if you use heat embossing to achieve the metallic look. Glad you enjoyed it!