Happy Thursday my friends!
Things are slowly getting back to normal here at the Nest.
I am once again playing with my paint and doing my best to
create a touch of beauty
everyday.
I attended a community rummage sale a few weeks back.
It benefited the local SPCA, which I am a huge fan of.
All my family pets have come from shelters...
well except for Igor, the Iguana lizard.
But thats a whole other story!
I brought home quite a few great pieces of furniture to refurbish.
More about them in a later post.
I picked up a large frame at the sale.
Today I would love to show you some more magic that I have created with the help of
Annie Sloan's Craqueleur™ crackle varnish.
I love this stuff!!!
***UPDATE***
Maryann was kind enough to feature my Craqueleur ™frame on her wonderful blog! Many thanks my friend!
***UPDATE***
I forgot to take a BEFORE photo of my frame, but it looked almost exactly like this one.
Mine was a wood frame to a very awful oil painting. I knew I could simply remove the painting and restyle the frame.
It was a large frame also..not bad for $5.00
So what do you think...
I may be biased, but I think she is beautiful and will look great in my shop.
Let's look at a few before and afters of the crackle technique.
One coat of Annie Sloan Chalk Paint™ in Provence
After that dried, I used a damp rag to gently distress to expose the gilding.
Then I applied Annie Sloan's two step
Craqueleur™varnish crackle.
The first coat was dry in a couple of minutes and it dries shiny..so check it. It will look wet, but it is not.
After applying a thin coat of step two, I hit the frame with a blow dryer and let the magic happen!
Once the crackle was complete, I applied Annie Sloan Dark Wax™
The wood was still warm from the dryer and this made the dark wax melt beautifully onto the wood frame.
I wiped away any unwanted excess with a soft rag.
If you find you have any spots too heavy with dark wax, simply apply a little Clear Wax to remove them.
Before the Craqueleur™ and Dark wax...
 |
| double click for an even closer look! |
**After**
Instant age in a bottle I tell ya!!
So you could spend $154.00 on this crackled frame....
Or you could turn a $5.00 thrift shop frame into this and save yourself over $100.00!!
Once Again...
**Before**
**After**
I will go with the thrifty version any day.
Thanks for visiting today and thank Annie for a great product.
Until next time...be kind and stay creative.
