'Ageing' bricks

Not quite the same thing but I've used Masonry paint samples to change the appearance of brick on my house, you can buy the small pots for a couple of quid from B&Q, I got a black and a red and a grey and they were more than enough to turn these old unmatched bricks:



into this:


Took me about an hour.

Since then I've used them on a rendered retaining wall to fake age. If you spend enough time you can get a good effect. Just a quick wash with grey will help, then use a big brush to flick on black spots.

 

Actually I just had a look and found the pots, it was White, Black & Red I got - must have mixed a bit of white with black to tone it done to grey I think.

 

I'm back home this afternoon if I get chance I'll try some of the paint on a spare brick, I assume by :

are they shiny like this:

http://www.wickes.co.uk/Wickes-Engineering-Bricks-Red-65mm-Class-B/p/213642

 

The old fashioned way to weather bricks and get them to build up a little mould was either yoghurt (as others have said) or to thin down cow pats with water, in a bucket, and paint it on the bricks.

 

In-between coats of varnish on my new bookshelves I found a suitable brick and gave it a quick splodge of black with a toothbrush, watered down and dabbed on. I'm quite amazed these little paint pot samplers are still OK (8 years old!):




It dried in 30 minutes in the sun:



Then a second coat a bit more of a 'wash' to see what it looked like:


After it dried - maybe too much black?

 

It's easy to do but I'd practise first on a spare or somewhere that doesn't show. Put it on lightly to begin with and see what it's like when it dries. It's easy to add a layer but difficult to take it away - even on an engineering brick once dried on it won't come off - maybe a wire brush would.

Just gives you an idea merleworld.

The paint will soften the red, then I'd apply the yoghurt as well, but that takes a while to have any effect.

 

Looks good, John.