Crackling and Crazing Milk Paint Using Heat
We absolutely love all of the things our Milk Paint can do. It can chip, distress and look authentically aged like no other paint!
One of our favorite techniques for enhancing the naturally old look of Milk Paint is to get it to crackle and craze.
We’re going to give you our best tips and tricks for crackling and crazing your Milk Paint and teach you how it’s different from chipping.
What is Crackling and Crazing?
We toss a few “c” words around here at Miss Mustard Seed’s® Milk Paint including crackling, crazing and chippy/chipping. They’re best explained in pictures.
Crackling and crazing looks like this:
It kind of reminds us of parched soil in the desert.
This effect is different from chipping. That occurs when patches of Milk Paint flake away from the surface of your project in a random pattern. (By the way, this is one of our favorite looks, and it’s what made our paint famous!) The piece below was painted in Farmhouse White. This kind of chipping is more on the extreme side.
Here’s an example of a more subtle chipping pattern:
If you want to learn how to do the chippy look, we have other blog posts dedicated to that topic, which you can explore below.
How to Create Crackling and Crazing
Now that you know the difference between crackling/crazing and the chippy look, let’s talk about how to create a crazed effect on your project.
The secret is HEAT!
As you are painting your piece, you can apply heat as your Milk Paint dries, which will force crackling and crazing. You can force it here and there, or create it across your entire project.
Heat can be applied with a heat gun, a hair dryer, or by painting your project outside on a hot day or in direct sunlight. It really is that easy! (A word of caution here - if you are painting over an existing paint finish, make sure you test for lead before applying heat. Wear a respirator to protect your lungs from harmful fumes, and follow the manufacturer’s safety instructions for your heat gun.)
Milk Paint may also crackle and craze when it’s applied over a shellac finish that has not been scuff sanded.
Like chipping, it can be random where and when it happens. You greatly increase the odds it will occur when you use heat!
Sometimes it’s actually fun to watch paint dry!
