Some of you might be wondering, “Why do you have so many
signs pre-cut”? Well, not only do I have
the wooden signs pre-cut but I also have all of the wire hangers pre-cut. I believe it was in May of 2011 my husband,
Mark (hi MarkJ),
and I were displaying our crafts at a local craft fair. The craft fair sponsor asked for volunteers
to present workshops during the fair, so I signed up and of course I wanted my
workshop to be interactive. Mark and I
prepared 20 or so kits that had everything you would need (minus paint and
needle nose pliers) to complete your very own mini-sign. During the workshop we provided the paint and
pliers for the participants to share while I demo’ed. This craft fair turned out to be a small fair
and so I only had around ten participants – a big thanks to all my peeps for
coming out that day and crafting with me!
Thus, a plethora of kits remained… and have sat on a shelf in my craft
closet ever since.
TECHNIQUE
Crackle painting: using paint and medium to create a
network of fine cracks on the surface of an object creating a weathered and
aged appearance
Thank you Dictionary.com for helping me find my own definition
of this technique (I was having trouble finding a simple definition, so I
derived my own!).
I have never actually crackle painted and I know the
little jar of crackle medium at the local big box store is pretty
expensive. So, I wondered if there was a
less expensive way to create the same crackle effect. After a quick search on the Internet I found
it! Now some of you may already know
about this, but I was really excited to find out that you can create the same
cool crackling effect with regular old acrylic paint and white school
glue. Now at the Elmer’s Glue website
they have some basic instructions, but really it’s just 4 simple steps without
much explanation. You can view their
instructions here:
They used wood glue, but frankly I didn’t want to rummage
through my husband’s garage looking for some wood glue. So, I just used the white stuff in my craft
closet. I think the results are just as
good.
MATERIALS
Pre-cut wooden sign
Sand paper
Soft cloth
Pre-cut craft wire hanger
School glue (you know, the white glue you used to eat in
elementary school)
Paint
Assorted paint brushes
Side cutter
Needle nose pliers
STEP #1:
Prepare your surface for painting.
Lightly sand any rough spots on your wooden sign using a medium grit
sand paper. Remember to sand in the
direction of the grain. Take a soft
cloth and wipe away any remaining dust.
Even if you purchase a pre-fabbed wooden item, it’s always a good idea
to give it one last sanding before painting.
STEP #2:
Paint a base coat on your wooden
sign. It doesn’t have to be perfect,
remember we are going to paint over the top of this in a different color. However, I will recommend that you paint all
sides and ends of the wooden sign with your base coat.
“BUT WAIT!!! Why is your sign already painted?!?!” Well, I have this little habit of not wasting
anything whenever possible. So when I am
painting if there is any significant amount of paint left on my pallet I will
grab a ‘canvas’ (such as an unpainted, pre-cut wooden sign) and slap a base
coat on using the leftover paint. Once
it’s dry I throw it back into the abyss of the craft closet.
STEP #3:
Squirt some school glue onto a paper
plate, piece of paper or really anything you don’t mind piling glue on. Using a 1 inch brush (preferably one you are
not too attached to, or care if it gets sticky) paint the school glue on top of
your base coat. Use random strokes in
all directions for the best effect. A
note here on thickness, the thicker you load your brush the more dimension and
texture you will have in the pattern.
STEP #4: Let the school glue dry long enough to still
be tacky to the touch.
“Exactly how long is that?”
For my little 4 x 6 inch sign, in relatively low humidity, it took about
10 minutes.
STEP #5:
Using a different 1 inch brush, paint
your top coat using long even strokes.
STEP #6: Let the top coat dry thoroughly. You will start to see the crackling appear in
about 10 minutes.
“And how long did drying take this time?” This time it did take longer, because not
only does the top coat need to dry but the school glue needs to finish drying
as well. I believe it was dry to the
touch in about an hour, but you can always leave it over night to be certain.
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| You can see that the glue was a little thin on the lower right corner. There is not much crackle in this spot as compared to the lower left corner. |
STEP #7: Decorate!
Here’s where the fun really begins.
Use your own creative juices to decorate and personalize your sign.
“How did you decide what to use
as decoration?” You will notice that the
colors I end up using on my final product do not appear in the materials
picture. That’s because I almost always
start with a loose idea of what I am going to do and let the design come alive
organically as I create. So, the idea I
might start with may not be anything like the end product! Here is how this design came to life…
Since my signs are all pretty
small, I wanted to make a simple design that was meaningful. Right now letters are really a hot trend, but
the shape of my sign didn’t really work for a single letter. Initially I decided to just simply write a
single word in a clear cursive script.
Then I reminded myself that my cursive is not the best. So, I turned to one of my favorite
brainstorming locations – Google. Yes,
you heard me right. I will go to Google
and I will type in what I am thinking of and, because I am very visual, I will
look at “Images” to get fresh ideas and inspiration. After searching simply by the word, I did not
find much. Next I searched by the first
letter of the word and found loads of ideas.
(Hint, I typed the following phrase to view images of a letter “the
letter d”) I really liked the images
that had blocks around the letters with pattern inside the block. So, I decided on using a stylized first
letter in a simple, but universal word – dream.
Crackle paint has been
associated with the shabby chic movement, and I always associate shabby chic
with being… well… girly (or feminine, if you prefer). This is why I chose to use the color pink –
gasp! That’s right, all you who know me
are gasping because I rarely use or wear pink.
I am not opposed to the color pink at all, I just happened to have made some
poor shade choices as a teenager that have caused a psychological aversion to
this particular color – but that is
another story (and hopefully no pictures are in existence of my poor clothing
choices). But the color pink does lend
itself to certain themes and projects, in this case, a girly little sign. Here’s what I ended up painting:
STEP #8: Once you are happy with your decoration you
can seal it using a thin coat of polyurethane or other finish.
“Do I really have to seal my project?” I do not actually do this with my signs. My signs are purely decorative and not meant
for outdoor use, so I skip this step because they are not touched, bumped, or
moved on a daily basis like a piece of furniture. That being said, if your item gets heavy use
on a daily basis I would recommend sealing it.
If you are intending your project to go outside you should seal it with
an appropriate outdoor sealant to protect it from the weather.
STEP #9: Cut a piece of craft wire to the length you
would like your hanger using a side cutter.
“Exactly how long is long enough?” This depends on the size of your sign. I cut my craft wire at 18 inches, which ended
up being a little long for this size – 12 or 14 inches would have been more
appropriate.
STEP #10: Bend the craft wire in a half
circle. Push each end through the holes
in the sign going from the back to the front.
Leave about 2 inches of wire hanging out the front. Bend the hanger up in the back so that the
wire is in line with the sign, creating a surface to “hang” from a nail.
STEP #11: Use the needle nose pliers to twist the 2
inches of wire in the front of the sign, creating a curly-q effect. And voila – you are done!
What would you do differently with this project? E-mail me at quiltedcowgirl@gmail.com and you
just might see your ideas on my “Ramblings”.
Happy “crackle” crafting!
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| To Be Continued... |
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