Faux finishes are a terrific and inexpensive way to create a sensational look, and one of the most popular finishes is known as "crackle." On today's show, Chris Wallace shared her easy techniques for a wooden crackle screen and tissue box.
Crackle Screen Materials:
Aleene's Premium-Coat Acrylics
- medium red
- soft sand
- dusty green
- soft green
- dusty lavender
- medium fuchsia
- gold
Aleene's Enhancers
- satin varnish
- all-purpose primer
- clear gel medium
- glazing medium
- mosaic crackle medium
- mosaic crackle activator
wooden screen
images for decoupage (4 or 5)
1/2" flat brush
fan brush and large flat brush
1/2" wide and 3/4" wide tape
tissues and paper towels
palette knife
pencil, ruler
sea sponge
pinking scissors
small plastic cups
poster board
sandpaper
wood filler
Steps:
- Fill all holes in screen with wood filler. Let dry and sand smooth.
- Seal wood with mixture of equal parts water and all-purpose primer. Let dry and sand lightly.
- Tape off top and bottom of screen.
- On each panel, paint the inside lip and a 1" band around the entire panel with dusty lavender. Allow to dry.
- Using the 1/2" wide tape, apply to the dusty lavender band and leave in place.
- In a cup, mix equal parts gold and mosaic crackle medium using a palette knife.
- Base coat the two side panels and all the frames with one coat of the gold mixture. Let dry.
- Using a damp sea sponge loaded with soft sand, sponge on color to cover the gold on the two outside panels. Make sure tape is still covering the lavender areas.
- Cut a piece of poster board into a diamond shape for a template (the size will be determined by the size of the panel).
- .Place a diamond onto the panel where desired, and trace around each shape with a pencil. Repeat this step until you have three diamonds on each outside panel. Note: The illustration at right depicts only the basic design of the screen. The following decorating and painting steps (Steps 11-30) used on the screen should only be used as a guide.
- Using 3/4" wide tape, tape around the outside edge of each diamond.
- Paint around the inside edge of each diamond shape with dusty lavender, being sure to cover at least 1/2". Let dry and remove tape carefully.
- Using pinking scissors, cut out a diamond shape from the decoupage image, making sure your diamond is 1/2" smaller around than your template.
- Cut out the decoupage image to fit the inside middle panel, being sure to leave 1/2" lavender border.
- Apply the decoupage image: Using a large brush, apply mosaic crackle medium to the back of the print and to area to be decoupaged. Place print onto desired area. Apply mosaic crackle activator over print. With damp fingers, smooth out all air bubbles by making swirling motions on top of print. When all air bubbles are gone, wipe off excess crackle medium from lavender bands and allow to dry.
- Using a damp sea sponge loaded with soft sand, dusty green, and soft green, pounce colors on palette to soften them.
- Sponge on three colors to all the frame areas, dipping back into the colors as needed. Be sure to cover all gold areas. Let dry.
- Using a large brush, apply crackle to the inside panels and all the painted frame areas. Remove tape that covered the lavender band. Let dry.
- .To create "cracks" on the decoupage print, apply glazing medium over the inside panels with a large brush.
- In a cup, mix one part soft sand with three parts clear gel medium.
- Brush on soft sand gel mixture to print.
- Using a damp paper towel, wipe off excess gel in a swirling motion, being careful to leave paint in cracks.
- Create the stripes on the top and bottom of the screen by painting the area first with soft sand. Let dry.
- .Tape off the area that will be left sand-colored and paint stripes with dusty green. Let dry and remove tape.
- Tape off a smaller stripe and paint it dusty lavender. Let dry and remove tape.
- Paint checkerboard square first with medium red. Use tape to make checks that are painted medium fuchsia. Let dry.
- Paint knobs with dusty lavender.
- For a protective finish, apply satin varnish to screen and knobs.
- Embellish top of screen with a cut-out from your print and attach with glue or decoupage.
Tissue BoxMaterials:
wooden tissue box
acrylic paint
mosaic crackle medium
palette knife
foam brush
decoupage image
sea sponge
Steps:
- In a cup, mix equal parts of paint and mosaic crackle medium using a palette knife.
- Base coat top and all sides of box with a foam brush dipped in paint mixture. Let dry.
- Using a damp sea sponge, add paint of a lighter shade to the box. Let dry.
- Apply decoupage print as explained in Step 15 and Steps 19 through 22 in Crackle Screen
