Rusty Bell Tutorial

Hi! I made some rusty jingle bells for my vintage style cards and I took some pictures along the way in case anyone else would like to know how to do it.  The bells on the left are some of the new ones I bought at Wal Mart and the ones on the right are what they looked like when I was done.

First I gathered together a bunch of bells and other metal things like charms and keys that I thought I would try my hand at making rusty.  I also got a pint jar and a lid for it.

I put everything in the jar and poured in enough bleach to cover it.  I used about 1 cup of bleach. I let that sit with the cover on for 24 hours.

I then drained the bleach and added 3 Tbsp of salt.

I also added enough cider vinegar to cover everything (about 1 cup) and then put the cover on and shook it a bit to get the salt mixed in good.  Set that aside for another 24 hours.

Drain the vinegar mixture and put the bells and other metal things on a tray covered with aluminum foil and let that sit for another 24 hours.

They are now dry and rusty and ready to use!

Click HERE to see a card that I used them on.