Upcycled Vintage Tray: French Kitchen Art Tutorial

What to do with a vintage metal tray? Make it your own style!

 In this case, I used an antiquing method to add a little French flair in the kitchen.

This heavy old tray came from a thrift shop. It had charm, but I disliked the decor decal.

With the idea of turning it into a French antique tray, I cleaned and sanded it. Then printed out some graphics to decoupage onto it.

For raised scroll work, I swirled on some white glue all around the decoupaged prints.

Then painted the glue and the rest of the tray with white acrylic paint. I lightly painted over the graphics to blend with the glue work.

After the paint dried, applied a clear coat in polycrylic. 

Then rubbed on wood stain. 

Where the stain didn't take over the glue, I painted on dark brown acrylic paint to finish the antique process. 

 Finally, a light clear coat of polycrylic over the entire surface.

The final results.

The sides and back of the tray remained original... a rusty patina.

It's "artsy-craftsy" wall decor, but the technique can be applied to numerous subjects. Maybe on furniture, mirror/picture frames, boxes, trunks, reclaimed wood, cans, scrap metal, cardboard... so many options!