Made it Myself Monday number one has arrived! I have to admit… I’m ridiculously excited about this test because it looks so cool and I really hope it works out.

Today’s craft came from Make the Best of Things and it’s a paint technique that I have been seeing all over the place – crackle-finished paint. Everything is pinned here for you to look back on later.

The idea for this is fairly simple. Paint a base color of acrylic paint. Then, when the base is dry, paint a thick layer of regular craft glue over the piece. Finally, when the glue is tacky (sorta dried, but still sticky), apply a coat of your top color over the base and glue.

Here is the crate I’m going to paint for this test. I found it at the Dakota Boys & Girls Ranch thrift store in South Fargo for $3 and I love it.

Aside from the piece you are painting, you will also need:

• 2 colors of acrylic paint (I used Folk Art in “Coffee Bean” and “Deep Tomato Red”)
• paint brushes
• basic craft/multipurpose glue (clear-drying will look better)
• disposable cups or another container for the paint & glueI also recommend using a plastic grocery bag or newspaper as a drop-cloth to keep paint from getting on your table or floor.

First, be sure to clean the wood with soap and water or a cotton ball soaked in rubbing alcohol. This will help get rid of dirt or other gunk that might keep the paint & glue from sticking to the wood.

Next, paint the base color onto the crate. For the base color on the bottom, I used brown. On the rest of the surfaces, I used red. I went over the base color several times to make sure the paint covered evenly.

Once the base coat is dry, paint a layer of glue over all of the surfaces. I did thick coats of glue and ended up with large crackles in the paint. According to “Make the Best of Things,” using thinner coats of glue will result in smaller cracks. Use your own judgement for the end result you want to have.

Now, it’s time to wait for the glue to get “tacky,” that half dry, half sticky feeling. The best way to check is to touch it with your finger. Also, the drier the glue gets, the less shiny it will be.

Once the glue is tacky, paint your top color over the glue. You can see here that the paint started to “crackle” fairly fast while the glue was still white underneath.

I found that “Make the Best of Things“ had a great suggestion: when painting your top color, use long, smooth brush strokes. That way, you get better paint coverage and don’t bother the glue as much.

Once your top color is on your piece, it’s time to let it sit and dry. It shouldn’t take long before your crackles start to form and grow. After the glue is totally dry (if you picked a clear-drying glue), you should be able to see your base color showing through the cracks.

Not to sound like your mom, but be sure to wash your brushes with warm, soapy water as soon as possible after use. Acrylic paint and glue aren’t impossible to remove after they dry, but cleaning right away is usually the easiest way to go.

Well, as you can see, the crackle finish worked: the main part of the pin passed. However, I tried one more test on this technique — whether you can clean it.

The acrylic paint and craft glue used for this are water-washable, so will the paint and crackle survive a wipe-down? Yes, and no. While the paint did not come off entirely, a short scrub with warm water did seem to dull and remove the paint color.

To be fair, my paint only had 24 hours to dry before I tried cleaning it. Since most paints recommend waiting longer before washing it, the short drying time might have affected it’s durability. However, I still wouldn’t recommend using this technique on anything that will be washed or otherwise exposed to water on a regular basis.

Are you going to try this crackle finish on your next painting project? Do you have your own twist that you tried? Or do you think the crackle looks silly? Leave me a comment and let me know.

I’ll see you on Foodie Friday. Until then, happy pin-testing!