Product Review: JoSonja Crackle Medium

I love to “age” the look of my art. Through trial & error I have found the perfect product for achieving the look I want by using JoSonja Crackle Medium.

After I am finished with my painting, I sand it with a fine sandpaper to help give it an aged look. I then dust it off and apply Liquitex Gloss Varnish and let dry. It has been my experience that the longer you let the gloss dry, the smaller the crackle will be. If the air is dry then 1 hour seems to work perfectly. By applying the crackle medium after only an hour drying time, the crackles are larger and more deep…which creates a realistic crackling effect.

Once the crackle medium has dried for a few hours, I take an old t-shirt or towel and dip into water then into raw umber acrylic paint and wipe over the painting. Then quickly take a dry part of the cloth and wipe again leaving the brown paint only in the cracks.

Again, let the painting dry. Apply a coat of Liquitex Matte Varnish over the painting, let dry at least 3 hours, then apply a second coat. That’s it! You now have an aged looking painting.

I hope this was useful information for you. Let me know if you have another product that works well for this application.