Frying Pan Planter – An Easy Upcycle Project

I added an aged patina finish to upcycle an old frying pan and a $4 flea market lamp to make a beautiful planter! Learn how to get the same look on your next project.

I’m deep into spring cleaning and I’ve been gathering up items around the house that we no longer use. Usually, I bag everything up to donate but this year I decided to challenge myself and upcycle and reuse as many things as possible.

Here I’m putting together a frying pan with an old lamp base. Crazy I know, but the lamp base is unbelievably heavy and I knew it could withstand a little wind and weather. It wasn’t hard to put these two together.

I drilled a hole in the center of the pan and there was already a threaded rod on the lamp base after I removed a few parts. To secure the two together I added a threaded nut and tightened it down with plyers.

That’s the backstory on the planter but what really pulled this DIY together was the patina finish! And, you don’t have to use it on just metal surfaces. You can give a patina finish to pretty much any surface from wood to ceramics.

Why A Green Patina Finish?

I used a green patina aging effect to give these mismatched household items a little old-world charm and to make them look like they have always belonged together.

I love the green-blue oxidized look that you see on weathered bronze awnings, outside light fixtures, and statues. After a bit of searching, I found this oxidizing kit from Modern Masters to replicate the look without years of actual aging.

I have to admit, I’ve never used any type of patina paint and I wasn’t sure it would work. Still, I decided to give it a try and I’m so happy I did! This kit was so much fun to use and I was shocked at how beautiful the patina came out.

If you’ve never used a patina paint kit, check out the supplies list and steps below. The steps listed here are actually on the back of the box and are very easy to do. Here I added a few tips and photos from my own experience to show the process!

Supplies

• Modern Masters Metal Effects Oxidizing Finish Kit-Green Patina
• Chip paint brushes
• Dropcloth or something to protect your work surface

For more great garden ideas, check out 35 DIY Garden Ideas to Upgrade Your Backyard from The Spruce!

Patina Finish in 3 Easy Steps

There are probably other patina aging kits out there, but this is the one that I used on my planter.

Note: This is not a faux patina paint kit! This kit is a three-part process that causes a chemical reaction to create a true patina!

I do want to warn you that this process is a bit of a science experiment. Some areas on my planter got little to no patina and some turned bright blue-green.

Overall, it was fun to watch the color change and I still have a 1/4 left of everything to patina something else!

Step 1 – Prime Your Piece

Prime a paintable piece with two coats of primer.

Paint on the first coat of primer and wait for 30 minutes before adding the second coat. Let the second and final coat of primer dry for at least 2-hours before going to the next step.

Note: I highly recommend making sure your surface is clean before priming.

Step 2 – Apply the First coat of Oxidizing Copper Paint

Next, paint on the first coat of Metal Effects Oxidizing Copper Paint and let dry for 30 minutes.

Step 3 – Apply The second coat of Copper Paint and spritz with the Aging Solution

Now for the fun part! Paint on the second and final coat of Metal Effects Oxidizing Copper Paint and spray on the Metal Effects Patina Aging Solution while the copper paint is still wet. Be careful not to get it on your skin.

How My Frying Pan Planter Upcycle Came Out

It took about an hour for my planter to dry completely and to see the full green patina effect but it did start changing after a few minutes once I spritzed it with the Metal Effects Patina Aging Solution.

While I had the paint out, I added a little patina to the handles of this old wood drawer. The handles were already rusty so I didn’t prime them, I just added a little of the copper paint and spritzed them with the Patina Aging Solution.

Let me know what you think and if you plan to add a patina finish to your next upcycle. If you have any questions, feel free to leave them in the comment section below!

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