Crackle

I'm working on a round robin book that I'm not quite finished with yet, but needed a crackle finish. If you have been reading my blog for awhile, you will remember that I posted a sample done with the Tim Holtz crackle paints. I was not terribly impressed with this product - it didn't crackle enough for my taste and is expensive too. Here are some samples I made today with a very simple crackle finish using Elmer's Glue-It-All - yes, the cheap Elmer's glue we all know - and cheap acrylic craft paint.

Both samples were made with the same materials and the same way, but with different amounts of glue. First a piece of plain chipboard was painted with a coat of acrylic paint (brown in this case). When dry, I added a coat of Elmer's glue and while it was still wet, covered that with a coat of acrylic paint in a different color. This can be left to air dry or dried with a heat gun if you're impatient like me.

The sample on the left shows the results when you use a relatively thin coat of glue. I used an ivory paint for the top coat. The right sample shows the results of a thick coat of glue and white paint. I think these result in a far nicer "crackle" than the more expensive Ranger product.