technique twenty-second - March 2011

This month's tutorial is given to us by design team member Mitra Pratt.  Thanks so much Mitra for your time and for this clever technique!!! I've just bought a bottle of this medium on sale and am dying to try out your technique!!!

Lately I’ve been thinking about cracks. Noooo, not the kind where you spot some dude bent over and he forgot to wear a belt…the kind where you appreciate them for the item’s age. So, lovely cracks!

I also have been trying to find a good use for these German stickers I have in my stash. So, decided to pair them up with some metal pieces I had and apply a crackle finish.  You may have spotted my hand made embellishment on my last page here.

These are pretty simple, just the drying time takes a bit so be prepared to wait overnight.

Assemble your ingredients.

As you can see here, I have a clear shaped back that I punched (you can easily hand cut as well) to sit behind the sticker. I using a bit of some Tim Holtz packaging but really any clear heavier plastic will do. 

Next, stick the sticker to the top of the clear piece and assemble for glue.

I like to tape my back in. After making about 10 of these, I have determined that packing tape is better. Some glue will creep under the metal, but the tape does a good job of keeping most of where it is supposed to be.

Now, the Crackle Accents glue I am using from Ranger makes larger sized cracks. I do have some new glue I am trying that is more like a paint that makes smaller crackles. 

Basically fill the entire metal bracket with a mound of glue. Like LOTS. It won't look pretty as it will be sitting all lumpy in the middle. Here comes my secret which I completely discovered by accident. 

Now, the secret ingredient here for BIG crackles is adding a bit of rubbing alcohol to urge the glue to flow better. I like to add enough where it looks nice and smooth. You can add it via a dropper or an empty glue bottle. See, I was adding a bit more glue at one point and accidentally added alcohol which was in a similar bottle. Those turned out the best! ;-)

Also, you can add a bit of color with glimmer mist and add sparkles at this point. I threw in a couple of pearls while I was at it. 

After it dried, I inked it up a bit with ink. 

This same concept will also work for clear heavier chip board using the same concept. 

If you give this a try, let me know! 

Of course, you could play along with the two challenges that are running and use it there! ;-)