tim holtz crackle paint problem
 

i have three of Tim Holtz'scrackle paints and i can NOT get my project to crackle. i've added water to the thick paint, stirred it, waited patiently (well, maybe not patiently) for it to air dry, tried another color on another piece thinking maybe it was THAT jar that was a bit off

so now i think i am just "crackle" challenged. even with older products many years ago, i could never get a crackle...what the heck am i doing wrong ! acck

Are you painting in only one direction? If you're painting something pourous like paper or chipboard put down a base coat of regular paint first. Then put the crackle paint on without overworking it. This works for me.

You also have to put it on thick. I found a lot of good videos on Tim Holtz website and there is one on crackle paint.

I just finished this altered frame last weekend using Tim Holtz crackle paint.

I started with a $1 oval wood frame from Michaels. Base-coated it with one coat of acrylic paint in an off white. After that was dry, I brushed on the crackle paint, not being too neat, not worrying about brush marks, and not painting as thin a coat as I did with the acrylic. In fact, the layer of crackle paint should be thicker than you'd normally do for regular paint.

I've been told that if I had painted it on even thicker, the cracks would have been even larger. But I like the smaller cracks that look like the crazing in an old piece of china.

I'm not sure you should have tried thinning the crackle paint with water.

Jennifer McGuire is doing an awesome series for Two Peas called Thinking Inking; here's a link to the tutorials on Crackle Paint; http://jennifermcguireink.typepad.co...ing-video.html
Enjoy!

The crackle paint is meant to be thicker. Don't thin it. And you want to apply it thicker (the thicker, the bigger the cracks). ONCE you start to see cracks, you can use your heat gun to speed up the process

missiowa...love the frame.

kathyc......i will check out the video tomorrow...thank you !

i wrote to ranger about the no crackle and the thickness of the paint....tim H (at least it was signed by him) said to thin it with water....so i did. still didnt work
i have used it on wood that had been painted...no crackle and on chipboard....also none !
it has to be me !

i'll check out the video and try again....thanks for y'all's help....

Tim Holtz did definitely say if the paint is too thick you can thin it with water. He did use a mister spray bottle so it may be that you only want to add a little but of water. I added some water to mine as well and it still works great.

Maybe you just got a bad batch...if you got it recently could you take it back?

Teresa

got them online last year and cant believe 3 are bad. i will give them another shot when i get a chance. it has to be me.

missiowa - beautiful frame!

Debra

My only thought is, is it really humid where you are? That might affect the drying...

What about the one step crackle accent? Is that also a problem that some of you have?