Nightstand "Craquelé" test (2016)

Back in the days I've seen some things done with a special "craquelé" paint. This cracks the top layer of paint, revealing the color beneath it through the cracks.

While I redid my room (the green is still there, no worries, but now there's also a soft yellow wall and a brick-wall-wallpaper-wall.)

Anyway, I wanted to give the craquelé an attempt on an old nightstand I had.

Finished piece. Looks better in reality than on the picture I must say.

The original nightstand was unpainted pine-wood. I gave it an orange primer; the one I've also used for the shelves I made not that long ago, which also are this kind of craquelé by now. The craquelé worked a bit better on those, but I lack pictures of them (Maybe I'll make them later).

Back to topic: The nightstand was sanded, orange primer as was added. After that the "base" color was added; this is the color that shines through the cracks.

Then a special liquid was applied (It reminds me of diluted glue the kids use at primary school). The lady from the store said to let it dry and quickly apply the top color.

Orange primer

Original color

Brown under coat

Mint top coat, green sided and red rims.

This went fine with the drawer as this is a small surface, but the door was a different story.

I've redone it twice or so. What I did last time is to let the "liquid" dry really well (it doesn't matter if you leave it for a few days, so don't hurry). Then apply the color coating in a thick layer; don't keep rubbing the surface with your brush as it will mess things up with the "liquid" coating.

Also keep the surface flat. Due to the thick layer of paint it will run down if you keep things up right.

To give things an even older look I've sanded some of the corners a tiny bit. The orange wasn't such a great choice for this, blue might be nicer.

Another thing: The cracks have a certain way of cracking; the nicest cracks are the ones where this "liquid" coat is applied in the same stroking direction as the final coat. (drawer is done this way, the top is done the other way; liquid on the top was applied top to bottom and the top color is done left to right.)

Top coating, as you can see the cracks aren't nicely "open" due to the different stroking directions.

Fun to show: The door, cleaned with a scouring sponge.
Which actually is a nice effect also (ideal for faux-copper).