Create A Vintage Style Art Piece In 5 Easy Steps

Get ready to create a stunning vintage style art piece with ease! In this blog, we’ll guide you through the process of decoupage, Crackling Gel, Crackling Enamel, and shading to achieve a unique and eye-catching piece that’s perfect for any room in your home. With the use of Dixie Belle paints, Posh Chalk products, and WoodUbend appliques, we’ll show you how to bring this vintage style art piece to life in just 5 easy steps.

Step 1: Decoupage Application

SollyJo began her project by painting her surface with Fluff by Dixie Belle. As we knew we would be using Posh Chalk Deluxe Decoupage on this piece, a base layer of white paint is needed to make the design on our translucent rice paper decoupage really stand out. This is especially true for this project as we want to highlight how the Posh Chalk Crackling Gel & Enamel can be used to create a vintage style for your DIY projects and our decoupage paper really accentuates the cracks that will form.

For this specific project we had selected the Posh Script Posh Chalk Deluxe Decoupage Paper. The nature of this design lends itself perfectly to the vintage style we wanted to create. To begin our decoupage application, we first applied a thin coat of Posh Chalk Pigment Infusor to the surface using a Posh Chalk Smooth & Blend Brush. Once our infusor was spread across the whole surface we laid our decoupage paper on top and began smoothing it down onto the surface, using a dry Posh Chalk Smooth & Blend Brush, starting centrally and working outwards to ensure creases or bubbles couldn’t form.

Now our decoupage had been fully smoothed down, we removed the excess by cutting down the sides of our canvas with a craft knife, this is much easier to do if the top surface of your decoupage is still dry. Then to complete our decoupage application, we applied another coat of Posh Chalk Pigment Infusor on top, this time completely saturating the surface.

Step 2: Crackling Gel & Enamel

It was now time to apply our Crackling Gel & Enamel to the surface in order to create the vintage style we wanted. We first applied a fairly thick coat of Posh Chalk Crackling Gel to the surface again using a Posh Chalk Smooth & Blend Brush. Whenever you are using one of our Posh Chalk Crackling Products, always apply the Crackling Gel first as this will cause the layers above it to form cracks. Then, the different consistency and chemical content of our Crackling Paste or, in this case, Crackling Enamel will cause different textures to form.

Also for the best results from our Crackling Products we always recommend allowing them to dry naturally. Once our layer of Crackling Gel had dried, we applied a liberal coat of Crackling Enamel to the entire surface. Due to time constraints we had to force-dry our Crackling Gel and Enamel; if this is the case for you as well make sure to keep your heat source constantly moving and at a good distance to avoid damaging or scorching the layers of Crackle or the surface you are working on.

Step 3: WoodUbend Applique Prep & Application

We then repeated these steps to prepare our WoodUbend Applique WUB2013 to be attached to our surface. We first painted to the top and bottom of the scrolls in a Barn Red by Dixie Belle to provide a splash of colour to our piece. Next we painted the centre using Fluff, the same white Dixie Belle paint we had used earlier. This was, again, done to emphasise the design of the decoupage paper we were going to apply next.

We used a Small Posh Chalk Smooth & Blend Paintbrush to spread a coat of Posh Chalk Pigment Infusor on the central area of our moulding, then laid a section of our Posh Chalk Deluxe Decoupage ‘Telegram’ onto the surface. Once it was on the surface, we used a water pen to help us tear off the excess hanging over the edges. This is done to create an easier-to-hide frayed edge rather than a distinct line from cutting with scissors or a knife and it also helps contribute to the vintage style we were creating on this project.

Once we had the section we wanted in place on our moulding, we applied another coat of the Posh Chalk Pigment Infusor on top fully saturating the surface. After this had dried we applied both Posh Chalk Crackling Gel and Crackling Enamel to the entire front side of our moulding. This will help tie the whole piece together with a consistent vintage style.

Now our crackling products had dried it was time to attach our moulding to the surface. We first thoroughly warmed our applique before spreading WoodUbend WoodUglue to its entire footprint with a small paintbrush. This was then briefly heated again in order to activate our WoodUglue, then the applique was pressed down onto the surface in our desired position. To finally complete our WoodUbend application, we heated the applique once more in situ and pressed it down again firmly.

Step 4: Shading & Wax

Our project was nearly complete however due to the translucent nature of the Posh Chalk Crackling products the texture we had created with them wasn’t easily visible. In order to emphasise these cracks we applied Posh Chalk Dark Brown Patina to our board with a Posh Chalk Wax Extender Brush. We started by creating a thick border around the edges of our freshly adhered WoodUbend applique and on the edges of our canvas. This was done with a lot of pressure to ensure the Patina would build up in the cracks that had formed.

Then we spread these concentrated patches of Patina across the whole surface of our piece using Posh Chalk Extending Wax and a Posh Chalk Wax Extender Brush. This brought all the elements of our project together to create the unique vintage style we desired. The Posh Chalk Extending Wax also acts as a sealant providing a glossy finish and a layer of protection to piece once it dries.

To make the shading on the piece more dynamic, we then used a baby wipe and a cloth to remove some of the excess Patina from our surface in specific areas. Due to the way we applied our Patina earlier, it was easy and convenient to wipe off the surface without removing it from inside the cracks. This allowed us to create a faded effect, our shading being most intense at the edges of the piece and around our moulding in the centre of the canvas.

Step 5: Pigment Highlights

Our final step for this project was to create some highlights. For this we decided to use the Posh Chalk Bronze Alloy Pigment. We began by decanted some of our Pigment onto an old WoodUbend board then gradually added Posh Chalk Pigment Infusor until we had created the thick paste-like consistency we wanted for this project.

We then gently dry brushed our Pigment mixture onto the extremities of both our moulding and the canvas itself. We also applied it more heavily to specific parts of the moulding, specifically the Quill and the ends of the scrolls. This metallic bronze colour in combination with the aged brown effect we had created with the Patina earlier really enforced the vintage style we wanted for this piece.

Conclusion