Mastering the Art of Aging: How to Paint a Sign to Look Like Aged Metal

[@gunnarbiker]

I was born on Halloween in 1970. I appreciate all the efforts that people go into celebrating and decorating for me around here! LOL We have been in a drought here in North Carolina. Should work wonders for the 4th of July!

[@fairbrookmanor]

We have a creepy, gnarled-trunk pepper tree in front of our house, planted in 1947. The sign would go on the trunk, which is adjacent to our picket fence, making it look like our front yard is the cemetery. Every passerby would get that eerie chill and look over their shoulder when walking by. Especially when I just sit quietly looking out my front window! 😈

[@TheDarthBobul]

We have a large antique display cabinet in our home. It’s filled with an odd array of kids art projects, vintage Halloween buckets and original movie props (my favorite being a fiberglass Saxon helmet from the tv show Vikings). I Think this sign would look amazing there for 364 days out of the year. But on Halloween it would have a very special place on the gate that watching your videos inspired me to build. We have a huge turnout each year (400 to 500 people) and we could definitely use this for the area of our haunt we have designated for visitors to take their pictures with. Would absolutely love to add a VanOaks original our collection.

[@freezerguy]

Rolling thunder… I live in Florida. We get that about everyday here. It’s very relaxing and awesome to see and hear!!

[@ParadoxicalLisa]

Haha! I was going to make the same comment. Just another day in Florida.

[@wesleywalker4709]

Is it 3pm in the summer already? It really is almost EVERY DAY here in Florida in the summer months. )That's out wet season and you can set your watch to the thunderstorms coming through!)

[@susanowen1709]

Love how this turned out! Our wisteria should be grown out again by Halloween, so I'd put the sign up next to it, with a few tendrils hanging over it and just enough light shining on it so it can still be seen/read.

[@TomHalac]

I was born on Halloween back in the fifties. I really didn't like it at the time because no one wanted to come to my birthday party, they all wanted to go trick or treating instead. It wasn't till I got much older and had kids of my own that I enjoyed Halloween. One day my kids and I were getting ready to decorate for the spooky holiday when I realized there weren't many scary decorations to choose from in the stores. We went home without buying anything, and decided to build our own. We built our first prop that year, it was a child size coffin with a plastic skeleton inside. I was surprised at the reaction it got from the neighborhood kids, they all wanted to get pictures of themselves next to it. From that year forward we built at least one item each year to add to the graveyard. As the years went by, the Halloween choices in the stores skyrocketed, I am amazed at the technology included in today's props. I watched the improvements in products and the many talented people to emerge in the field including yourself. The quality of the props are far and above better than what I have made through the years. I still put together my little graveyard for the kids when I can, and this sign would have a place of honor up front.

[@MuscleCarsLoveMe]

I would likely put this outside my apartment door. I like adding decorations outside of my apartment to help it stand out a bit from all of the similar looking units. I think it’ll look great under my porch lamp that has a fire flicker bulb in it!

[@joetriche2891]

I love rainy days with rolling thunder but I live in south Louisiana so it’s quite common for us here. I love the sign but I don’t have a haunt so it would probably be hung over my couch and no one would ever see it so it would be best going to someone else. Always excited to see your new videos!

[@beckymurphy4714]

There was a garden alongside the garage many years ago. It's overgrown now, but from the road it still looks like an open area. I'd put this sign not too far from my seven-foot reaper, which stands behind the rock wall looking out towards the road.

[@wesleywalker4709]

I'd use this in my yard haunt. I've been looking for a reason to finally build some brick columns with carriage lights to improve the rusted chains/iron pipes fencing I use to keep the viewers from walking into it. I like that it'll look as good in daylight as nighttime. My graveyard is seen at dusk more than it's seen at night and has to follow that philosophy.

[@danielbrowning6755]

We recently moved from Utah to Washington State and sold most of our home haunt of 20 years. Needless to say, we are behind in our haunting projects, one of them being a new cemetery entrance and columns. Since I haven't finalized a design yet, I could incorporate the sign into my final design and save me some time rather than getting bogged down in the details.

[@haynerbass]

Another very cool project with great results. I would use it on my new display for this year. A smoking corpse tied to a post; surrounded by undead barely fleshed corpses mourning and wailing in distress. Thanks for another great tutorial.

[@amythecraftycat]

I’d love to add this sign to the graveyard section of my Halloween yard display. Possibly on one of the brick pillars we have that line the walkway of our house? This last year was my first one really going all-out for Halloween, and it felt really cool to hear people saying that we had the best decorations they’d seen!

[@kimberleykitty]

I have an oddities room (called The Crow's Nest) in my home with quite a few antique and vintage funeral themed items. This would be perfect there! Awesome work.

[@melissamaas4029]

This would make a great addition to my cemetery I made. I'm working on my sign that will show the name of my cemetery and this would be perfect on my entrance column. Love your work and creativity.

[@Sch1itzie]

I love the patina on the sign. I would put it in my "mad scientist" corner of my prop shelf by my Lovecraft props.

[@csyork]

I've got a large cemetery haunt and I would use this sign at the gate. I've got a main cemetery with a working gate and my side yard features a pet cemetery. I've got a PVC fence with "stone" pillars between sections and larger pillars for the gate. It's a spot my neighbors use to take pictures of their kids year after year.

[@m.maclellan7147]

Think I would hang that sign in my Art Studio in Rockland, Mass. I AM really tempted to make it a haunt one year ! (Live in an apt., so,.....)

[@ParadoxicalLisa]

Wow. That's gorgeous. I hadn't seen that water staining technique before. I'll have to try that. I have never done a yard haunt before, but my house has a little picket fence around it that I've always thought would make it perfect for a cemetery scene for Halloween. Complete with big columns at the gate like you've had at yours. A sign like this would be awesome for that.

[@David-mp6vc]

These spray wash techniques are quick and create unbelievable looks. I now use it on regularly on my props at home. Great tips!

[@riffraff0607]

Sign is awesome! I would hang it on the metal archway that leads to our boneyard & hang some Spanish moss. Thanks for all your great tutorials. ❤ your channel!

[@FonteAlSoul]

I love the patina and I would never think to use baby powder! This sign would look great next to our coffin with a skeleton greeter. Thanks for the great vid!

[@LaserEngraving911]

my new favorite paint tutorial channel!!

[@PowerChordEPS]

I'd probably have this sign in my little home Halloween cemetery. I try to do something new every year and add more to the story and this would be a nice little addition. Plus I'd get a feel for the aging techniques in person to see how else I can do it for other props.

[@chuckgaskill3536]

Oooh, I think I'd put it on the left side of our garage, which right next to the walk way up to our front door. I'd want everyone to see it, it looks great!

[@marianneidalski3705]

Love this sign! My husband and I set up a graveyard on our front lawn every Halloween that is Haunted Mansion themed. We were talking about expanding a lot this year and would love to have this sign at the front! Thanks for another great video. 😊

[@SummersideDiver]

Y’all are having quite the weather! The sign would make a great addition to the pillars on our fence around the cemetery. Thanks again, and as always, for sharing your techniques.

[@larryg3038]

Our home turns Halloween Haunt every October with many yards of tea-stained cheesecloth billowing in the breeze on shutters and porch details while skeletons climb the porch pillars overlooking a graveyard 🪦 where your awesome sign would reside. Thanks for another great tutorial.

[@jamesingjamesingjamesing]

i’d put this sign next to the doll mausoleum i’m planning to build. it works because some of the dolls are only supposed to be out after dusk (to minimize UV exposure) and a few of them are historic!

[@DianaGrobauer]

I would put on one of the entry columns to my cemetery haunt. Absolutely fantastic work as always!

[@raymitchell9736]

I'd use that sign on my cemetery columns if it would fit there. If I recall correctly, it is 10" across... Otherwise I'd find another spot, like on the fence next to the entrance columns...

[@thom17043]

I have a collection of various signs in my workshop - some purchased and some self made. Things like your typical enameled advertising signs, old automotive themed manufacturer signs and logos, and such. I think this sign would fit in well and give people a moment of pause when they see it with everything else. If I don't win the sign, I'll have to give your techniques a try and make a weathered sign of my own using them!

[@JonathanMorley]

We have two brick pillars with light fixtures at the end of my driveway. This sign would look right at home on one of those pillars and could be lit with a spot light from below for dramatic effect.

[@afogel]

Another great tutorial! Faux metal finishing is so much fun. This piece would look great in my house as a complement to the reproduction of Disneyland's "here you leave today and enter the world of yesterday, tomorrow and fantasy" plaque that hangs above my doorway!

[@WastingMyPotential]

For sure this would go at the base of our haunt sign.

[@BigBlock61]

My Halloween display is a grave yard theme with homemade gravestones, a crypt and crypt keeper, animatronic ghosts demons and werewolves. They are all made with techniques I learned from watching your videos. For this year I'm looking at making a wrought iron fence and columns for the front of my display and that sign would make a perfect addition. Keep up the good work, I'm learning a lot from your videos.

[@bransencaperton5046]

This would really help add to the realism of my cemetery! This would give me an excuse to finally build fencing in front of my display to hang this on! As for the rest of the year it would be on display in my home as I am a huge fan of your work!

[@RToddJones]

Digging the execution and finish of the sign! Would use to add a sense of foreboding near entrance to super old and very real pair of rock walls.

[@Joseph.A.Creations]

Another wonderful tutorial. I would add it to one of my cemetary pillars out front. The storm at the end is the perfect sound for our haunts and it sounds like an evening in Florida in the summer.

[@chadokane7592]

I built a cemetery fence and other props to round out our home haunt with many projects inspired by you! I’d place this sign right at our cemetery entrance!

[@DREADPOOL]

beautiful. love learning new tricks and incorporating them. Definitely placing it up front of our Haunted trail. Good luck to everyone and Congratulations! to the winner.

[@DeadgarPoe]

Awesome work sir. We are doing our first outdoor display this year which happens to be a grave yard, we were able to snag a pnuematic grandpa from lowes after the season was over and have full intentions on having him breaking free from a grave. We have some headstones we are working on but I think the sign would set things off.

[@roxannejones9122]

I'm going to making columns for my entrance. The sign would look great on one. Love your work and watching you to get ideas. New to making my own decorations after stumbling across your feed last year, but have always been a Halloween lover.

[@wiseprepper125]

I would put this on my main gate for my halloween cemetery. It would be the added touch I need. Great job.

[@thehauntonbayhilldrive2376]

I put on a full garage haunt (different theme every year) and a full yard cemetery that always has a nod to the Haunted Mansion. I would proudly put your amazing sign on the one of brick pillars that hold the gates to my cemetery. BTW, I love your channel and have used a lot of your techniques to create props. Thanks for all your great ideas and inspiration.

[@davelee9111]

Aweosme job!! I'd love to add this sign to my home office that started as a homage to the Haunted Mansion but is now a dark ride haven generally. It would look so good on my wall!

[@kennethhughley1611]

That's an awesome sign. I'd use it in a gated cemetery entrance.

[@drudge92]

We have a basement and the stair well walls going down could always use decoration. Thank you for this tutorial I just 3D printed a no solicitation sign Disney style and wanted to use this same technique rather than the rub n buff u mention

[@RevenantManor]

Love the calcium deposits. Definitely an overlooked element when looking for an added bit of age and realism, and it looks fantastic here.

[@HFSPOOKYJ]

I have really learned a lot about layering color on smaller props. I always worried it would be too much on smaller things. I would put this on my columns during the season and proudly display it in my office in the off-season. Sounds like you may have brought some of our NC weather back with you when you visited.

[@TonyBullard]

Record the rolling thunder while you have it! It's great for haunts. I have a plan to build a gate for my cemetery, and would love to have this sign compliment it!

[@kyleray5452]

Great tutorial. I would put the sign in my classroom to inspire my media production students.

[@hornet232]

Looks great! such realistic weathering....Would put on one of the entry columns to our cemetary. Will be finishing those this summer with the connecting iron looking top between them. Always adding more gravestones and pieces every year. Thanks for all your videos, they've been a big help.

[@terrymyers699]

Quick Tip: to keep your project from moving around take an old hand towel or shop rag and wet it completely then wring out all the water until its a damp cloth. Lay it on your work surface then place your project piece on the towel. The moist surface causes friction and your piece won't move. This is an old trick we chefs use for our cutting boards to keep them in place. Hope this helps. BTW, you got lucky w/ all the thunder and lightning. We just got rain down here in Huntington Beach, nothing fun like you had.

[@VanOaksProps]

Great tip! I’ll have to remember that.

[@pingpong8193]

I'll put it in the game room, on the wall next to the "Distortions" Pumpkin Witch and Foo Fighters Pinball machine :) Awesome job on this one, I will be revisiting this tutorial for sure!

[@jackmac3614]

The sign looks great! I could definitely use that on the graveyard fence by the gate. Thunderstorms here in NC have also seemed to have intensified in the last couple of years, it reminds me of when I use to live in Florida.

[@Salguod2k]

I used this sign and the technique you showed last Halloween and I got rave reviews from the people just walking by.

[@Alan-px6hq]

We are building our first pneumatic prop. A "stone" pillar with a pop up scare. This sign would go perfectly on it, and match our cemetery themed haunt. :)

[@therebelworkshop]

I love that technique dude. I do want to make some antique signs to decorate my new flat. I'd definitely put that up in my living room.

[@VanOaksProps]

You should!

[@gh0ulsg0newild1]

This sign is amazing!! Thank you for the painting techniques.. I would proudly display it in the funerary section of my Odditorium and my seasonal yard display.

[@walterdobbins2487]

We have a split trunk great maple tree that it would look great on during the season. Off season it would make great addition to my movie / retro game room.

[@dezm2778]

That’s exactly what my cemetery haunt entrance needs!!

[@metajock]

Thanks, I've got a lot of uses for this technique!!! If I got this, this would go straight to my game room's door.

[@DanMiller1168]

Thanks again for another great video. I've learned a lot from you throughout the years and each lesson makes my annual cemetery display better and better. I would place the sign at the gate of my display. It would look right at home among the other Halloween items I've made after watching your videos!

[@Chaedron1]

Great technique! I really love the layering and how subtle the look is. Last year I dressed up in a sort of steampunk plague doctor look and did some brass and copper tubes and a panel using rub and buff and I liked the look but I think adding a patina like you did with the sign would add more depth and a more natural rusty look. As for what I would do with this sign? I would make a monument or column to display it in my little cemetery as you walk in. It'd be the perfect little detail. Especially with nice lighting.

[@johnbishop7784]

Excellent guidance on weathering a sign. As usual, nice job my friend. It would be an excellent addition to the main gate of the Old Oak Cemetery. People are often confused about the actual hours for viewing all things creepy, so this 5 lb bronze beauty would clear everything up. It would also inform those out and about as to when they need to return to the grave.

[@Georges_Workshop]

I absolutely love this sign! Great job. I don’t really have a haunt per se but I would proudly display this in my basement stairwell right under my lighted Bettlejuice sign that I picked up From Spirit Halloween last year. Once again, great job on the sign.

[@matjaquier7243]

Definitely would go on the pillars of our haunt fence.

[@Jedi_Jeff]

I've been building headstones for my yard haunt since 1999.. I'm in the process of making columns for the gate. This would be perfect for the entry.. Happy creating.

[@WhiteysWickedWorkshop]

The watered down white and teal at the end really put on the finishing touches!! damn! Great job!

[@lechatbotte.]

I just love watching the painting techniques

[@RevNoch]

This would immediately go on my cemetery columns, directly front and center.

[@scottpaxman9444]

I have a dancing skeletons in my Cemetery and this would be a great addition!

[@katelynnmartin4130]

I am a new haunter and have loved your tutorials on gravestones! My current project is creating a Victorian style cemetery for my front yard! It would be super neat to have an authentic looking sign to hang next to my tombstones! Thanks for your great videos!

[@WolfTenor]

I would put this at the gate to my Yard Haunt on a custom-made pillar. Love you work and have been following you for years.

[@GMB_creations]

Awesome job as always! I have a cemetery gate my dad gave me from our haunts from years ago which I’m planning on adding to this and the sign would be a great start.

[@timthornton6152]

This is going straight onto a pilla for my yard haunt 😊

[@pennst1179]

As always, thank you for the video. I hope others enjoy this wonderful build.

[@troseberry91585]

That would be an awesome addition to a fake cemetery with headstones, etc. Great job!

[@HalfWarrior]

As an artist and former sign maker; I think this is awesome! Great job sir!👍🏻

[@VanOaksProps]

Thank you very much

[@horrorlord4576]

Another great prop! I do have a cemetery set up for Halloween but I think I would put this at the entrance to my home horror bar that is year round

[@TheSteveAS]

That sign turned out amazing Derek! Killer job! Now hopefully the residents of your cemetery can read! 😂

[@scottlonganecker8230]

Awesome job as usual. This would be amazing my cemetery on the pillar or on the gates. Thank you for all the instruction, it's amazing.

[@peterainford3438]

Having just started out setting up a new haunt last year I've been using lots of your videos as inspiration and technique development to build up our props. This sign would be lovingly included in this year's setup! Thanks for all the great content and information.....it's been valuable as I keep making things!

[@VanOaksProps]

Glad to hear it!

[@dextermorgan2396]

I'm in the process of completely remaking my graveyard for this coming year. This sign would look AMAZING on the new cemetery fence I'm making!

[@101scetch]

Hi there. That was absolutely brilliant yet so easy. I think I did tell you that you have taught me quite a lot in your videos. I am definitely going to give this a try. Thanks so much for what you do. Blessings to you from England.

[@JonFlores275]

Amazing information as always ❤The sign would be a perfect addition for our cemetery display at my brother's home

[@teresashewell7105]

I would put this on my Halloween Disneyland shelf! It would be perfect there!!

[@vanduraful]

My front yard is beetlejuice props only but this would definitely go nicely in the back yard where the parties are.

[@ichigomichelle]

Hi!!! My boyfriend and I love watching your videos together! During Halloween, I would place this sign right next to my front door! Each year I always build a little cemetery there! As for the rest of the year- I'm slowly converting my den into a haunted victorian library so this would go wonderfully with my 'Live, Laugh, Lobotomy" sign~!

[@durandalroland7335]

It looks fantastic. We are going to be doing our first public ticketed (but small) haunted house this October!

[@BlanckMortuary]

This is the freshest smelling prop I have built. I am making four signs for my haunt this year.

[@VanOaksProps]

🤣🤣

[@juneritchie2498]

Thanks so much for your guidance and generosity! If I were fortunate enough to win this delightful sign, I would be honored to hang it at the gate in the front of my house to welcome folks and ghouls alike to my black forest, mushroom garden, and mausoleum theater this year.

[@zarnistastudios]

I am late to the party on this one. I am just beginning my DHM graveyard. I got my 1st 3 this August. I would definitely want to make the brick gates one side would have this sign and the other would have the DHM sign repainted like you did in another video. Keep up the amazing work. And thank you for the inspiration.

[@TheOuterRim_]

That turned out fantastic! Thanks Derek

[@canovanas78]

Always enjoy these how to videos. Gets the mi d thinking where can I add these techniques. Sign could go by main door as a way to spook the delivery folks

[@kamelsr]

In my apartment complex it will be difficult to put out until October. But next to my bedroom seems like a good place for now.

[@JessieTidwellofficial]

I would put this on the gates to my back garden!!!

[@beckamellison256]

Great Video! The sign would look awesome in front of my homemade dark ride in our queue themed to haunted mansion . Great video and tips

[@NeilHendin]

Awesome sign. I'd put it next to our cemetery name sign made out of a discarded bed headboard from a kid's bed we repainted to look like this sign.

[@VanOaksProps]

That's awesome!