Easy Rusty Crusty Halloween Cauldron

Today I am revisiting a post that I originally posted on Oct. 18, 2012. I had a pinned an awesome picture of a rusty cauldron that the website Haunt Forum had made from a cheap plastic cauldron. I just so happened to have purchased an $8 black plastic cauldron from Wal-Mart and wanted my cauldron to look just like theirs.

I followed their directions exactly but it was a Pinterest fail. One of the steps was pretty funny and that was to add some instant oatmeal to some tacky glue and apply it to the cauldron to make the crusty looking part. The instructions said that this would adhere like crazy, but after I had applied it, I went to check the next morning and all of the oatmeal had fallen off! You can read about it here.

So my cheap black plastic cauldron was stashed in my garage.

However, after reading my about my unsuccessful attempt at recreating this pin, a kind reader suggested mixing the instant oatmeal with Mod Podge which I thought was a great idea! So two years later, I am trying this again.

I used two packages of generic instant maple brown sugar oatmeal and mixed it with some matte Mod Podge until it looked…well…I guess, “right”. I mean what is it really supposed to look like? I just got all of the oatmeal moistened and thought that was enough.

With a brush, I applied the oatmeal mixture to my cauldron and when I was done, I hoped for the best that this year wouldn’t have the same results.

And voila! It stuck! I mean it seriously stuck. It dried so hard that I would probably have to use a chisel to get it off. Success!

After the oatmeal was thoroughly dried, I sprayed the whole cauldron with a layer of black spray paint. Doesn’t the dried oatmeal really look crusty? I love it!

Using DecoArt paints of Metallic Antique Copper and Royal Gold, I painted over the crusty oatmeal in a round, swirling pattern. There is no science to this. Just paint it however it tickles your fancy! My colors were a little more metallic looking because of my paint. The original pin had more of a matte look and mine is a little more shiny, but that’s okay cause I like a little bling.

This Easy Rusty Crusty Halloween Cauldron is now my new favorite Halloween decor piece. I think even Mr Skeleton is shocked and amazed that I got this project to work out. And it was SO easy!