Inspired by the time worn charm of provincial antique furniture and artifacts, Porter’s Paint Crackle Medium marks any painted surface with the gentle hand of age. Porter's Paint Crackle Medium is an easy-to-use finish perfect for creating antique and decorative crackle effects on furniture, picture frames and other elements. It does work best for smaller projects and not whole walls as it needs to be applied with a brush not a roller.
Before we even start thinking about getting started on the project, we first need to select a colour scheme. You’ll want to choose a base colour that is different from the Porter’s Paint Crackle Medium colour for optimal contrast, (For example, a grey basecoat and a black topcoat) as the grey base colour will show through the crackled black topcoat.
Once you’ve chosen your colour scheme, its time to get started! We’ve split this into four bite size steps: primer, base coat, Crackle Medium, and topcoat.
Let’s get stuck in!
You’ll need:
Step 1: Primer
Start by sanding your object back, being sure to remove any previous coatings and wipe down to remove dust or sanding particles.
Give the object a coat of Porter’s Universal Primer to prep the surface for the next steps. Leave to completely dry for 24 hours.
Step 2: Base Coat
Use Porter’s Paint Low Sheen Acrylic as the base coat. This can be tinted to hundreds of colours. Ask us about colour choice for your project today. Apply 2 thin coats until opaque with long brush strokes where possible, leaving two hours between coats for the paint to dry. Before moving onto Step 3, you’ll need to allow the base coat 24 hours to fully dry before moving onto the next step.
Step 3: Crackle Medium
FYI: Porter’s Paint Crackle Medium goes on clear. You won’t see the crackle when applying this, so don’t stress! The crackle happens like magic when you apply the topcoat later. Make sure you apply the Crackle Medium using a criss-cross brush stroke motion. You’ll want to make sure the Crackle Medium is applied haphazardly so once the topcoat is applied later, it will help the cracks form in all different directions rather than uniformly. The more random your brush strokes are, the better the crackle will come out later. If you use uniform straight lines when applying the Crackle Medium, the crackle will be very minimal.
Apply a thick layer of Crackle Medium. Wait 12 hours before going in with your topcoat. Don’t wait any more than 24 hours to apply your topcoat. If you do, you’ll need to re-coat with Crackle Medium and come back in 12 hours to apply your topcoat. Crackle Medium needs to be freshly applied to work.
Step 4: Topcoat
You can use any type of paint for your topcoat. We recommend Porter’s Paint Eggshell Finish if you want to achieve that antique look as it has a very soft sheen to it. Like the Low Sheen Acrylic, Eggshell can be tinted to many colours. Use quick, long brush strokes to apply the topcoat ensuring you work in one direction.
Once you start to brush your topcoat on, it will start to crack straight away. Start at the top and work down and be sure not to go over any areas twice. Layering the topcoat over the Crackle Medium more than once will cause the topcoat to lift off and you won’t achieve the crackle effect.
Once you’ve watched your topcoat crackle, leave it to dry and you’re done! No need for a finishing clear coat, it is perfectly fine as is!
Enjoy your custom statement piece for your house, and if you’re feeling generous, share a happy-snap on Instagram and don’t forget to tag us @insppaint.