The Crackle Factor!

I happened upon some acrylic crackle medium this week when I should have been shopping for more practical things.

I had no idea what made the best cracks, so I decided to use my art journal to experiment.

I tried thinly and thickly applying the crackle medium and then putting the paint over the top but got not much crackling at all.  Odd.

Then I tried really blobbing on the crackle medium.  I gave each one different drying times and started to see a result.

I saw some people online using glossy accents underneath Ranger Crackle paint with some great results.  It got me thinking what else I could put between the base layer and the crackle layer to change the characteristics of the crackles.  I tried the paint-only way, then I tried using Klear floor polish.  I have it for other crafty applications so I figured it was worth a try.  Finally, I tried Glossy accents and Prism paper glaze.  The glaze was smelly and requires clean-up with turpentine (White Spirit).  The most dramatic results came from the Prism glaze in the lower right hand corner, but in second place was the way the manufacturers intended at the top.

Crackle Factor:  The Result formed an art journal page at the end of my experimental patches.  I have since painted up some of the pages in between my test pages and they will become background pages made with leftover ink and paint splodges from other projects as I make them.  I like the idea I got from Julie Fei-Fan Balzer about using an art journal page or tag or piece of paper to absorb excess product and act as a starting point for later.

A little note about my art journal:  Not very impressive is it?  I'm using it to experiment and write down what I learn about certain products.  I'm hoping to get into art journaling more but at the moment it's a practice book.