If you have an old-world, country-style garden or are using a specific color pallet for your plants, placing a new, bright orange clay pot in your yard could clash with your design and ruin your look. Because you want to create beauty, and not an eyesore, aging your clay pots is the perfect solution for making them blend in. There are several easy techniques for aging your clay pots, each with a different color, to ensure your clay pots mesh seamlessly with the rest of your outdoor decor.
Instructions
1. Grow moss on your clay pot. In a food processor, blend one cup of plain yogurt with live, active cultures, one cup of moss from the craft store or garden center, two tablespoons of water and a half-teaspoon of sugar into a thick paste. Lightly sand the surface of your clay pot, and then apply a thick coat of the mixture to your pot.
2. Place the pot in full sun for one day, then place it in your garden. Make sure the mixture doesn't dry out. If it is becoming too dry, place some water in the pot so it can soak through to the moss. The moss will feed on the yogurt mixture and begin to grow over the whole surface of your pot, giving it an aged look.
3. Age your clay pot by applying a rusted finish. Lightly sand the outside of your pot. Choose three colors of craft paint to create your rust color, like red, dark brown and copper. Use a sponge to dab red paint over the surface of your pot. Next, use the sponge to dab a small amount of dark brown paint on top in a random pattern.
4. Keep dabbing on layers of red and dark brown until you have a color or patterns you like. Use a clean sponge to lightly dab the surface with your metallic paint. To further distress the look of your rusted pot, allow the paint to dry completely, then lightly sand it in some areas. Seal it with spray-on paint sealer.
5. Age your pot by applying a copper patina look. Lightly sand the outside of the pot. Use the sponge to apply copper paint to the outside of your pot. Allow it to dry. Next, use the sponge to dab on turquoise paint in any pattern you like. You can choose to patina the whole pot or just sections. The key is to make sure you have copper showing through your turquoise paint.
6. Finish the look by dabbing more copper to deepen the turquoise in some ares. Allow it to dry, then spray it with a clear paint sealer.
