Quick and Easy Craft: Foil-Wrapped Vintage Frame

My grandmother - my mom's mom - is a lot like me.  She's always itching to create things, and she has a real soft spot for the stuff of yesteryear. Is it quaint? Quirky? Gingham? Filigreed? Floral? If so, it's caught her eye, and probably coming home with her.  What's more, she's very generous with her acquisitions, which means a visit to Grandma - or Grancy, as some grandkids call her - is a return with a new (old) find.  Our house has three (yes, three) rocking chairs, a vintage Risk game, cookbooks, a clock, a nightstand, and much more that have made their way from Grancy's.

And this frame.  During my most recent visit I asked her if she had a frame that would complement an Old Hollywood-style photo.  You see, a few years ago I sat for a friend starting his photography business; the goal was to create 40s-era glamour shots à la Marlene Dietrich and Ingrid Bergman. I really loved the photos (Jeffrey Blake of Lost Lake Photography if you're in the Utah County area, FYI) and have been meaning to frame a print or two.  My request produced the frame you see here. 

I loved the raised detail, but the chips and cracks weren't as great, at least not in this instance.  To everything there is a season, right?

Enter Mandi of Vintage Revivals. Her work is just. Too. Cool. One project that had me especially enamored was her tinfoil nightstand.  It didn't take me long to decide that this little frame was going to get a metallic makeover.

Something I really like about this project was that I could attack it right away. After doing a light cleaning of the frame, I grabbed some foil and some Mod Podge and just went at it, really.  I worked in 3-4" wide pieces of foil, coated the less shiny side with glue, and smoothed it over the surface of the frame.  While it would probably be smart to say I was gentle and patient and such, I'm really the slapdash type.  Rips happened.

But I just took a tiny piece of foil and layered it right over the holes.  No harm done.  In very little time, I was looking at this:

Which wasn't too great, even apart from the blurry photo. It looked like a frame wrapped in foil, like frame leftovers or something.  Mandi expresses the same nervousness at this point with her nightstand, but I really had doubts.  I was past the point of no return, however, so I determined to see it through. Besides, the fun part was next!

I coated the whole thing in a layer of Mod Podge and let it dry, then got out these acrylic paints:

 Folk Art Metallic Antique Copper and DecoArt Dazzling Metallics in Dark Patina.

My thought was to get a worn-dime look, because I love the play of teal, copper, and silver together. Mandi used faux glaze and a different type of paint for her project, but I'm too cheap to spring for that stuff. (Not that they're that expensive.) Acrylics were much more my speed. I started with the Dark Patina, squirting it directly onto the frame and quickly distributing it with a craft sponge.

Once the whole frame had been coated and dried, I moved on to the copper. This time I didn't squirt the paint directly on, since the copper is much darker and I wanted more control over the end result.  Instead, I dipped my sponge in a small amount and lightly applied it to the frame.

Like so.  While the paint was still wet, I gently wiped it with a rag to get more even and light distribution.

And that's it! Once it dried, I tried it out with the photo, and I think it turned out well.

No baked potatoes here! What do you think?