In this simple tutorial we will show you how to make steel background for your works. This simple technique can be used later to any sized document, for filling backgrounds and stuff.

Step 1.

Make a new document, sized 250×250 pixels. Click on foreground color icon and in Color Picker choose foreground color #585858. Click on background color icon and in Color Picker choose color #c1c1c1. Click on top horizontal ruler and drag a guideline to center of picture. When you are near center of picture, guide will snap itself on center, then just release it there.

Step 2.

Now choose Gradient tool, and choose reflected gradient.
Reflected GradientReflected Gradient
Left-Click somewhere on center of picture, near that guideline, and hold that click along with Shift key. Now drag your mouse to top of picture and then release. You will get gradient like on the pic below.
Gradient result

Step 3.

Create a new layer by pressing CTRL+Shift+N. Press “D” and then “X” on keyboard. Choose Paint Bucket tool. Fill that new layer with white color by leftclicking on it.

Step 4.

Go to Filter -> Noise -> Add Noise. Enter amount of 25%, distribution: Gaussina, and checkbox on for Monochromatic. Click OK. Change blending for Layer 1 from Normal to Hard Light. Change it’s Opacity to 65%.

Step 5.

Go to Filter -> Blur -> Motion Blur. Enter 0 for Angle and 50 pixels for Distance. Click OK. Click On Layer -> Flatten Image. Go to Image -> Canvas Size and enter 200 for width, and 200 for height. Click on Proceed when asked.

Step 6 – finish.

Now here it is your steel background. You can use it for whatever purpose, from button to anything else. To make a simple button from it, just cut it out and add some caption to it. Our final result:
Finished button