Doing some revamping (part 2)

After seeing many many DIY projects that people have posted on blogs and Pinterest where they have "revamped" old picture frames, I wanted to try something for myself.  I ventured to Goodwill to try to find a cheap old frame that I could fix up.  At first I was disappointed to not find what I was looking for.  But then I found this:






This mirror was only $10 and the glass itself was in perfect shape.  The other supplies I needed to pick up were some sand paper, my paint choices, and some crackle medium (you can find this with the acrylic paint).  You will want to pick two paint colors that are contrasting for this to work right.









To start, I removed the glass so I just had the empty frame and  sanded off as much of the old paint as I could.  Because there were a lot of ridges in the frame, it was hard to get all of it off, but that was fine.  Once it was sanded down and the dust wiped off, I started with the paint.  My first paint was a brick red acrylic.  You will want a really solid base coat - so I did two layers, letting it dry in between.









After the base coat was completely dried, I applied the crackle medium.  This will help the top layer to crackle when applied, allowing the base coat to break through.  Once the crackle medium was dried, I applied the contrasting color.  You only want to put down a real thin layer for this to work.  I didn't even completely cover the base with my gray top coat.  If the crackle medium doesn't let as much of the base color through as you would like, you can gently sand it down a little more until it is to your liking.

This is a small portion of the finished product.  Once the frame was completely dry, I replaced the glass and here is what it looks like now: