DIY Crackle finish

I love using Crackle medium on items around my house.  If you've never tried it, it's easy and I'm gonna show you how!  I recommend trying it first on something like picture frames or small items before using it on a piece of furniture.  I painted my daughter's whole bed with this stuff, but I'll show you that at the end.  So I had this picture on my wall that my son did and it was just tacked up with command strips.

 I found this frame at the goodwill after looking several different times (you know how it is) and it was 6.99, which is not a steal-of-a-deal, but hey, lots cheaper than the store when you get a matte and a frame!

So yay, here goes the project!!  This picture will finally have a better home:) 

What you'll need: 

Two contrasting colors of paint (acrylic or water based house paint)

Folk Art Crackle Medium (see pic below)

and a paint brush or two of course!

With the crackle effect you will need one color for underneath that shows though the cracks and one top color that does the CRACKING!! Start with an underneath color unless you want the underneath color to be the present color of the object.  I haven't really done this without painting an underneath coat tho....but you can always experiment.  If you don't know what kind of paint is presently there....it's possible it may not work.

Give the frame or object a few coats.  This is a yellow wall paint that is left over from one of my rooms.  The crackle medium that I will apply next says to use acrylic paint.  I have found that acrylic artist paint and house paint both work fine.  

Let that dry.  Next, you will brush the crackle medium all over the piece.  You don't need to do a heavy coat, but since it is clear, sometimes it is hard to see where you have painted and where you haven't so give it some sideways glances to see where it is already shiny and where your brush has been.  This is what the crackle medium I used looks like.  I got it at Hobby Lobby, but this is a common brand and I think you may even be able to find it at Walmart.

Let this clear coat dry before applying your topcoat color.  A topcoat has to be applied before the cracking will occur so you won't see anything until you apply that final color.  You want to have two contrasting colors so that the cracks are noticeable.  

Yes one of my favorite colors, aqua blue on the top....You want to apply this last paint color in one coat if possible so get a good brushful before making each stroke.  Do not go over and over your brush strokes and do not add a second coat.  You may not notice the cracking right away, but it will happen as it dries.  Certain paints seem to be more dramatic than others.

Woohoo, there it is!

And ready to go back on the wall!

Here is my daughter's bed which I painted with crackle paint.  And yes!  I used just those tiny bottles for the whole headboard and foot board, BUT I think it just took 4 of them so not as bad as I expected!  Here I used dark purple underneath and white on the top.  Let me know if you try this and what you think!!