Aged Decoart Crackle on ATC's I've missed making ATC's

I forgot just how fun and quick making ATC's were.

So had a little play yesterday with my Decoart Crackle Glaze and Antiquing Cream.

I just love all those aged crackles :)

Here's how its done :)

I bet you've seen these before?

I've got lots of them, just waiting to be used on something like this.

I stuck down a few papers and an image with some gel medium on a ATC. Be sure to cover the top with a layer of gel medium too, this gives a good surface for the crackle glaze to adhere to. Dry with a heat gun.

I like to use strong not bendy ATC's. Stick some mount board on the back or buy the thick ATC's, they don't buckle or bend when you use the heat gun on them and the crackle glaze works better on the firm card. 

Then I used Faber-Castell big brush Pitt pens to create the shading.

I have used distress inks in the past around the edge, but they don't work well because they are water based, and the crackle glaze is water based too and so the ink runs into the crackle. This is not good, and you don't get a good crackle either. 

The Pitt pens are indian ink and won't run into your crackle glaze. 

You can rub your finger on the ink too and it moves it around to blend the shading. 

I used the black Archival ink around the edge of the ATC.

I used a wide flat brush to brush on the crackle glaze. Take care not to over brush it. Load up the brush and brush one or two strokes over the same area and move along. You get a better crackle the less you work it. The glaze is self leveling so it will even out when you leave it. 

Leave it for about 4 hours and you get this gorgeous effect!

and no leaching of the ink.

Then rub in Antiquing Cream with your finger or a brush.

The antiquing Cream will fill in the cracks and is non permanent, so you can wipe off the excess when you're finished working it into the cracks.

And Voila!

Two fab aged crackle effect ATC's :)

Now what else can I crackle?

Have a good weekend peeps, the sun is out and I'm going to the beach :)

Michelle xx