Post #787680 by tikitube on Wed, Jun 13, 2018 10:45 PM

Part of the ceiling in our tiki room has been sitting unfinished while I've been tied up with other projects. I had started covering it in random pieces of scrap 2x, but I wanted a little more eye candy up there and I've been waiting for just the right materials.

I really liked the idea of old tin ceiling tiles and was hoping to find some with maybe a pineapple pattern or some other appropriate design. I kept watching eBay but no luck... until I found these!

They're from an old drug store ceiling in Tennessee, and they're full of corrosion:

What you can't see too clearly is the pattern, which resembles a four leaf floral pattern that I've seen in tapa designs. The other side of the tile shows it better:

I gave them the wire brush treatment and sprayed the bad side with rust inhibitor.
And while I like the raw tin finish, I thought it would be worth experimenting with some patina liquid that I had leftover from a copper project. I had no idea what it would do to other types of metals, so I tested it by soaking one of the tiles for a few minutes:

And here's what it looked like afterwards...wow!

The finish was unpredictable, and the liquid seemed to lose its strength as I treated all 18 tiles. But I had just enough liquid to treat them all, and it looked like some sort of funky mining discharge when I was done:

When they were done drying, I gave them a few sprays of clear coat. All in all, I had enough tin tiles to run a double row down the center of the room. The opening you see in the middle is for a wood stove pipe installation that I've been procrastinating for longer than I'd like to admit. (Before next winter, I swear!)

I may fill in the rest of the ceiling with the aforementioned 2x wood scrap pattern and some more bamboo strips, or maybe something else. Not sure just yet...!

Cheers,

Jeff