3 Easy steps to crackle paint nearly anything!
Today I’m sharing how to crackle paint. It is one of my favorite paint techniques of all time and perfect for all you do-it-yourself peeps out there. It is so packed with awesome sauciness, I can’t even contain myself!
My three easy steps to creating a crackle paint finish on your furniture, glassware, old buckets, or even clay garden pots is so much fun.
Vintage Markets are popping up all over the country and are full of painted furniture, vintage finds of all sorts but, they carry a hefty price tag. You can get the same look for less with my simple faux crackle painting technique.
Your local DIY or Hardware store might carry a product called crackle medium. You get a little medium for a lot of money. Before you spend big money , have a look around the house and “borrow” your kids school glue, grab a couple of bottles of paint and lets get started. Here’s how to crackle paint. (watch the video on youtube)
If you’re into mixed media art, try making your own crackle paint paper using this technique too. You’ll have so much fun exploring, and slapping paint around I just know.
Here’s a list of what you’ll need for this technique.
You can download a PDF of the technique here
- Acrylic paint
- Darker Base Color
- Lighter Top color
- All Purpose School Glue
- Paintbrushes
- Water
- Paper towels
- Step 1: Apply a coat of base paint color and allow to dry. If necessary apply an additional coat. (skip this step if you want the original color of the item to show throough)
- Step 2: Apply a generous amount of all purpose school glue and allow the surface of the glue to dry. Do not let it dry completely. Hint: You can speed up this process using a hair dryer or a heat embossing tool. Just watch it so it doesn’t dry completely.
- Step 3: Apply paint over the glue in long even strokes. For a more distressed appearance, go over some of the sections again. Work fast. As the paint dries, cracks will appear giving you the faux finished look. The thicker the glue the larger the cracks.
- I like to give my crackle paint surfaces an even more rustic aged look by applying a little antiquing medium. (How to give an faux finish aged look instructions are here) and of course if you love to create with texture, yep there’s some awesome sauce for that too – here’s the tutorial)
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Get your crackle on!