Friday, 7 June 2013

DIY craquelure. Part 1

I've got a letter from a Canadian girl with some questions about the ways of creating cracklings without using special products. As I promiced - this is "How I do it"! If you are an experienced crafter you know that there are a lot of products which allow you to create large cracks. It' usually a two step system of Italian, German or East-European makes, Maimeri is the most popular, I think. There is a variety of such products in Europe now due to popularity of decoupage.

maimeri idea craquele varnish medium for decorat

Unfortunately I could not get them here in Britain, not on a permanent basis anyway. So I tried to find some substitutions. There are two. As the first step I use the products which contains spirit solution of shellac. In my case it's a sanding sealer with shellac in it from DIY/hardware shop. This is an exact product I use on the picture:

11883 39262 ml

As a second step I use a gum arabic solution (for watercolour!) from any art shop.

WC Gum Arabic 75ml 2

The second pair is - a water-based gold size (sticky substance for gilding with gold/silver leaf) as a first step (some art shop or Internet shopping) and a gum arabic again. The product on the picture is just an example of how this water-based gold size looks like.

RCACRGOLDS

My next post will be about how to use them. Any questions are welcome!
Posted by Felicity at 08:10
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5 comments:

  1. Anonymous9 June 2013 at 10:25

    Thanks a lot for the info Galina! I could not find any crackling medium/varnish in India, finally got a 2-step medium(Pentart) from the UK, have not used it yet though.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Felicity9 June 2013 at 11:35

    Hi Veena! It's funny that you've got a new craquelure product from UK and I complained that I could not find anything here! When you try, let me know how it works, please!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Anonymous14 June 2013 at 06:54

    I have not tried it yet, but I bought it on ebay.co.uk - search 'pentart crackle varnish' to find it. Sure, will let you know how it turns out once I try.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous4 August 2013 at 10:50

      I tried it once, on a dark background, on the handle of a spoon. The cracks were fairly large, very fine lines. The surface isn't large enough for me to judge if the cracks are even or not. Sorry don't have any snaps yet, I don't think I'll be able to capture them on a photo anyway.
      Life's kindo busy these days, no crafts happening at all! Hope you are doing fine :)

      Delete
    2. Felicity4 August 2013 at 14:14

      Thank you Veena! Yes, I am fine and summer is busy time for everyone apparently!

      Delete

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