Roofing - Plan B or is it Plan A??!!?

For those who followed my progress on the garden shed, you will know that I got the plans from Miniature Collector.  

The plans called for a copper roof with a green patina.  I purchased all the copper for the roof, but it's the one thing that I have avoided doing.  It was very intimidating, and something I have never attempted.  I always find when I reach blocks such as this I tend to put projects on the back burner and this is definitely what happened here.

Then I was inspired by a metal roof I had saw on another project.  Even though I didn't have exact instructions, I had enough pictures that I felt I could duplicate it.  I thought I would share how I attempted it with all of you in case you want to try a similar roof on one of your projects. 

I started with a roll of corrugated cardboard that I picked up at Michael's.  I cut it into pieces that were approximately 2"x 3" and painted them with a Aluminum enamel paint.  It took a couple of bottles and a couple of coats, and my craft room had a very overwhelming odor by the end of it.  Thankfully my scents-sensitive husband was away on a golfing trip to South Carolina while I worked on this part.  Hopefully the fumes will have subsided before he returns!

I knew once I applied the pieces to the roof, there was a possibility that the roof below may be visible at times, so I decided to paint the roof black so the wood wouldn't stand out.  I removed the shed from the landscape during this stage so that I wouldn't drip black paint on the grass or flowers.

There are a couple of sites that also have instructions for creating a rusty metal roof that you also may enjoy.  Even though I didn't use either site's instructions directly, there were a lot of learnings I took from both.  Greenleaf has this roof instructions using tin foil.

The V-spot has instructions for making peeling paint spots.  I did use part of these instructions, but rather than starting with a rusty coat first, I started with an aluminum coat first, then rust and then aluminum again.  I did it this way because I was working with cardboard and I feared that when I removed the salt I didn't want the cardboard exposed.  I thought the more layers I had under the salt, the better for the final product.

I painted lots and lots of pieces, first with aluminum.....

The with a rust shade of enamel paint

Then I put a water wash on the rust areas and added the salt in spots that I hoped would be natural.

I waited a day for the salt to dry.

Then I painted the aluminum colour over the dried salt spots

Then I attempted to remove the salt spots has per the instructions I had read.  I learned a very valuable lesson.  This technique DOES NOT WORK WITH ENAMEL PAINT  

I kept all the cardboard pieces.  They actually look a lot like corroded metal, so they may be useful for a future project.  So if you are attempting this project, I would suggest using acrylic.  If you're looking for a corroded look, salt and enamel work great!!

So now I have to decide if I want to cut new cardboard strips and start all over again with acrylic paint, or if I want to go back to Plan A and actually do the copper roof that was called for in the plans.  I reread the plans, they actually offered up cedar shingles as Plan B, but I've done that before, I want to try something new.  

Looks like a have some thinking to do.  Doesn't it look wonderful when I share my failures as well as my accomplishments!!

By the way....school's over for another year!!  I have time for miniatures!!!

Until the next time...... 

Wanda