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Crackle Varnish

Hand Lettering topics: Sign Making, Design, Fabrication, Letterheads, Sign Books.

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Site Man
Posts: 573
Joined: Sun Mar 13, 2005 1:03 am
Location: Marlborough, MA

Crackle Varnish

Post by Site Man »

OLD FORUM POSTS

Posted by Matt Walker on January 15, 2003
Hello,
I'm looking for a crackle varnish that will work with 1 shot poster colors.The poster color is oil based. Any help would be great!.

Matt Walker
Cam Bortz
The system I have used goes like this: coat your entire job with a clear oil-based varnish (one-shot tinting clear works great). Let it set up to a fairly strong tack, then coat with gum arabic - Lefranc makes a version of this. As this dries, it will form cracks; the size of the crack pattern seems to depend on how sticky the varnish is when it's coated (more sticky - larger cracks).
After the whole thing dries completely, take some artist oil color - it has to have a contrast to your background - and rub it into the surface, then polish it off with a soft cloth. The color will stick in the cracks, making them visible. Its a nice effect. If you want a flat finish, coat the whole job with chromatic flattening paste to kill the gloss.
Kent Smith
And...you can also clear over it with either gloss or matte clear Ti-Cote for a durable acrylic finish. Be sure the cracked varnish is thoroughly dry first.
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