Geri deGruy's blog of art, musings, and inspiration

Who knew white glue could be so useful?!

This technique from "Surface Treatment Workshop" by Darlene Olivia McElroy and Sandra Duran Wilson, creates a crackle effect. AND IT IS SO SIMPLE! One of the many things I love about this book is that none of the techniques are really difficult and most use a lot of the same materials. You don't have to try to find esoteric materials like toad guts or amoebas or anything like that. 

You need:

-a surface

-acrylic paint

-plain ol white craft glue. I used Elmer's

-paintbrushes, disposable is good

So here we go. Either use a piece of painted paper or paint one. Let it dry.

With your paintbrush, put a layer of glue on top of the paper. Thin layer---smaller cracks. Thick layer--- larger cracks.

Now get a different brush and paint a top color (contrasting is nice) over the wet glue. The cracks will show up on the paper in the direction you paint this layer. Simply lay the paint layer on top of the glue. Don't futz with it. 

Now let the whole thing dry. Go have dinner and visit with your buds. Go to bed and dream of sweet things. In the morning, check out your paper. It will be all crackled and funky. How cool is that?!