Crackling is a pretty simple technique with beautiful results. If you are a little worried because you have never done the crackling technique and you want to see what a finished piece you might try looking for examples on the internet. There are also do it yourself videos, DVD, and books that can walk you through the process. Sometimes local home improvement stores have free demonstration classes on using certain techniques like crackling. Crackling can be easy if you follow the directions and you aren’t afraid to try something new.
The crackling glaze technique is a 3-step process. You have a base coat, crackle glaze, and a top coat. When you layer the three, the crackling glaze cracks the finish of the top coat to show through the base coat that you first applied. There are different kinds of crackling glazes and you might want to read the back of the container to decide what crackle finish you want. Also you might want to look for the type of paint it reacts with best.
As you know with all new techniques it is best to test the technique on an unseen area so that you can get the right look. Crackling glaze can be applied in thin coats for small cracks or thick coats for larger cracks showing more of the base coat. To test the crackling technique you need to apply the base color coat first let it dry completely before applying the crackling glaze. Once the base coat is dry, you can apply the crackling glaze to the test area in different thicknesses to see what desired effect you would like. The crackling glaze needs to dry for a couple of hours before you can paint on the top coat. When the glaze has dried and you place the top coat on you will see the crackling start almost as soon as the paint is applied.
Once your test area is dry and you have found the desired look you can begin to paint the base coat on the furniture piece that you are crackle glazing.
You will want the base coat on the piece to dry completely before you apply the crackling glaze.
After waiting for the base coat to dry you can begin applying the crackling glaze with a paint brush. When you apply the crackling glaze, you need to make sure that you apply the glaze in even strokes and that you only paint in one direction. You want to make sure that the glaze dries for several hours before applying the top coat.
The top coat of paint really depends on the use of the piece of furniture for example if it is the writing surface of a desk. You’ll want to use a paint that is better for highly used areas such as an acrylic paint instead of a latex paint. The top coat you will want to load your paint brush so that you can try to make only one pass over the glazed area. When applying the top coat you want to make sure that you brush the paint in the same direction as the crackle glazing. After the first stroke of top coat goes on the crackling glaze goes to work and you start to see the line form in the surface of the top coat. Allow the top coat to completely dry before you finish the piece of furniture.
Once the top coat is dry it is best to sand it lightly and apply a clear varnish over the entire piece. The varnish protects the crackled paint so that it does not chip or peal away from the surface on the piece of furniture. Once the varnish dries you will have a beautiful piece of antiqued furniture for yourself.