Quick, Easy Crackle Paint Project

I have a ton of projects I want to do, but have been stalling. Deciding which direction to take with these is giving me fits. I'm not sure what types of finishes I want, but I recently learned the scoop on creating a crackle paint finish without dropping a small fortune on special products. I found the perfect test item at a local thrift store - a wooden spindle on a base for $1. The paint on this didn't suit me, but the spindle itself did. So, using the easy method I learned about on one of my favorite new sites, Junk Revolution, I gave it a makeover.

This is the spindle I bought. That outdated finish has to go!



















And here it is after a couple of quick coats of ivory acrylic paint and a coat of "Crackle" (this is sooooo easy - 1 part water mixed with 10 parts white school glue). I let the acrylic dry between coats and again before adding the glue mixture. Then I let the glue mix dry just until it was tacky before I painted on my final color.


I used the brown paint I had from my buffet redo and mixed it with enough black to give it a nice dark shade.





















And, here it is!
Love it on my ceiling tin shelf. You may have noticed the ball on top has holes drilled in it. I'm going to look for something to pop into those to hold small "antiqued" pictures. But, on a high shelf it really doesn't have to have anything.