Easy DIY Faux Zinc Letters in Just 2 Steps

Hello Remodelaholics! It’s Ananda from A Piece Of Rainbow, my happy DIY wonderland where I blog about home and garden inspirations and creative projects!

Today I am going to share with you a really fun and easy DIY project that can be used in so many ways!

If you love to use letters and numbers in your home decor, you probably have seen those gorgeous zinc letters from Anthropologie.

Although it does not sound like a lot at around $20 a piece, what can we do with just one letter? Let’s say we want to create a phrase like…. “Home Sweet Home”, does that mean we need to spend hundreds of dollars?

The answer is no! Check out these faux zinc letters, which we can make for $2 a piece.

All you need are a few simple materials to make them, and no art experience is required!

How to Make DIY Faux Zinc Letters

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Materials and tools:

Paper mache letters: They can be found at most craft stores such as Hobby Lobby or Michael’s (hint: 40% coupons) or you can shop here on Amazon. I used 8″ letters in this project.
Acrylic or other types of craft paint: in black and metallic silver
Paint brushes (not foam for this project)

Step 1:

I chose the word “LOVE”. We can never have too much love, right?

Paint the paper mache letters black on all sides and let them dry.

Here’s a trick so you don’t end up with wet paint everywhere. Paint each letter in two stages: leave part of it unpainted to stand on one side as the rest of the painted area dries, then finish painting the letter and stand it in the dried painted part. See photo below.

Step 2:

Dip a very dry brush into the metallic silver paint, scrape off the excess paint and use quick strokes in different directions to paint over the black.

This will create the depth and texture to make the letters appear like real zinc.

Leave a little bit of black showing through, especially along the edges if you want to give the letters a slightly aged look.

You can skip the black and paint the letters solid silver, but the black give them extra richness and vintage charm.

Check out the video tutorial for more details.

I can see these letters looking fabulous on a book shelf, a console table or a mantel. It would be fun to make different phrases to celebrate special occasions too!