Crackling - make new old
The cracked paint surface is a beautiful and elegant detail in the furniture - you can implement it with just one shade, sometimes the end result resembles a cracked oil paint surface, or with two different shades, sometimes the end result is strong. Crackling is trendy in interior painting, especially in country-romantic interiors, but it also fits well with modern, Scandinavian interiors as a means of effectiveness and as a beautiful detail.
The cracked surface resembles an old, chipping oil paint surface. This technique is at its best on smooth and flat surfaces, such as wardrobe doors, table tops - but also on details, such as table legs or decorative cuts on furniture, frames and mirrors.
Crackling makes the furniture or surface look antique and aged, but it is also suitable for brightening up a modern interior as an elegant detail. You can also combine a smooth and even paint surface with crackling in the same piece of furniture.
If you use crackling agent and only one shade of paint, you get a very beautiful and elegant result, works especially with white and off-white shades. This technique is also well suited for modern interior design and furniture with a modern design language.
Here's how to do it:
paint the finished piece of furniture with the shade you want or with Frensheen metal pigment shade. When the paint is dry, add a layer of Easy Crackle and let it dry.
Easy Crackle crackling agent dries longer than paint, so wait calmly and paint the top layer of color only on a completely dry surface.
The first, lowest shade of paint shows the cracks of the second, uppermost layer of paint, so you can either choose a completely new shade for the second layer or use the same shade, for example just white, in which case the result is refined and elegant. Finally, highlight the cracks with colored waxes if you want to add an old and patinated look.
Choose a safe product for this technique as well: the non-toxic and certified Frenchic Easy Crackle cracker . You only need this one product for the cracker technique.
It's that easy:
- Paint the furniture black and let it dry.
- Add Easy Crackle and let dry again.
- Now paint the furniture with blue paint. You will already notice when painting how the craquelure agent quickly starts to work and it cracks the blue paint and the black cracks are visible.
Test first!
You can also do a few test paintings at the same time, for example on a block of wood, so that you can see how the thickness of the last (blue in the example) layer of paint affects the size of the cracks. A thick layer of paint means big cracks. Thin layer of paint with small cracks.
Tip: the Blending Brush is perfect for applying the crackling agent!
Also try and test how the direction of the strokes of the brush affects the direction of the cracks. Avoid painting over the cracks that have just appeared with back and forth strokes of the brush.
So the cracker comes between the two layers of paint. Finally, you can emphasize the cracks with waxes or the ' Dry Brush' technique .
Tip! You can combine the craquelure technique with decoupage sheets .
