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How to Make Clothes Pins Look Old

ByJennifer
26 Comments
Do you have a favorite project you’ve done recently? My new favorite project is making clothes pins look old and weathered. This is a great way to age them and use them for various decor projects or in primitive decor projects! You just need some acrylic paint, water and a little bit of time!
Two tubes of Liquitex BASICS acrylic paint and a pack of 50 wooden clothespins sit in a white basin—perfect supplies if you’re learning how to make clothes pins look old with a vintage, hand-painted effect.

You can also tea dye clothes pins to give them an aged look as well. See how to tea dye here.

Add Acrylic Paint to Water

Add few dollops of equal parts of brown paint and gray paint, then mix in just enough water to cover the pins, mix it around till the paint is all mixed in. You may wante to adjust the amount of brown or gray paint depending on the color you would like.
Two blobs of gray and brown paint sit on a white surface with a stained, circular pattern—perfect shades for learning how to make clothes pins look old. The text "Jennifer Rizzo" appears in the bottom right corner.

Let Clothes Pins Soak

And let them soak! You can adjust how much paint you put in the water by how dark or weathered you want them. You will want to give them a stir and flip them over at least once to make sure both sides weather equally. If you don’t like your first results, add more paint and soak them again.I let them go overnight and then sit in the sun to dry all day.They look weather beaten and aged and perfect to use for crafty projects where you want that barn wood look. For larger wood, putting the grey and brown mixture on top works better.  If you soak the wood, it could warp the boards. Gray-washing is a great way to get a weathered look. for a mossy look, add in green paint, or lightly brush green paint over the top. I have found adding a few drops of green craft paint to a wet paper towel and then giving the clothes pins a slight dab with the towel is enough to give them a slightly mossy look with out going totally overboard.
A white basin filled with cloudy water contains several wooden clothespins soaking—some floating—on a stone surface, offering a glimpse into how to make clothes pins look old and weathered.

 

Have you ever made new wood look old before? There are a lot of ways to do it including glazing, lime washing, and using coffee and tea like these tags, and this is just one of them.

Several paper tags with stamped images hang from a clothesline with wooden clothespins outdoors, perfect for showcasing your DIY projects or learning how to make clothes pins look old for a charming, vintage touch.

The image shows the word "Jen" written in a black, cursive script on a white background

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*This was posted Via Jennifer Rizzo. com

26 Comments

  3. Thanks for hosting Jennifer. I think I doubled clicked (sorry). Love that clothespin trick. I just made new clothespin bags and I am bookmarking this one.

  9. What fun!!! I’m linking up my kitchen table. I’m having a garden/park link up next Wednesday. Would love for you to stop in!! 🙂

  10. Excellent little creative tip for the clothes pins. I’m trying to link back to your page, I embedded your url in my post, but it wouldn’t accept it. Do I need a linky thing? Help!

  12. Fate is on my side today! I want to use clothespins for an upcoming project but they look too new. I don’t know how long it will take me to collect old ones, so was re-thinking my project. But now you just solved my problem! Thanks for this easy and very handy tutorial! Also, thanks for hosting the party.

  17. This is so funny! I have a whole sackful of weathered clothespins because I used to always leave them on the clothesline year round.

  19. Oh, and will you delete my black and white dresser link? It’s my Goodwill (okay, Salvation Army) makeover so I should just link that one up next Friday.

    Sorry. I should’ve read your sidebar … first … before linking …

    Thanks!

    Linda

  22. what a great idea on the clothpins! will definitly have to try. and thanks for hosting the party. cant wait to check everyone else’s favorite project. have a great day!

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