I found this ugly interesting frame at an estate sale and immediately saw some good potential for the fabric border. I loved the almost burlap quality to the small rim of fabric between the two wooden frames. I knew it had to come home with me, destined for a little makeover!
To begin redoing the frame I carefully taped over all the fabric. Of course my tape was too wide, so I had to tear the tape in half lengthwise. Talk about making more work for yourself! My vision was to attempt the Elmer's glue crackle method floating around the Internet. First order of business is painting the base coat that you want to be showing in the "crackles". I am lazy so I chose not to sand the frame beforehand. Though this didn't save me any time because I had to paint 3 coats of gray to hide the weird mottled pink of the original frame! My tip is to lightly sand your frame if it is shiny. This will help the paint adhere and make the process much smoother!
As soon as I got my base color as solid as I wanted I applied a liberal layer of Elmer's glue. Contrary to all the tutorials I read, I learned that letting it dry for 5 minutes is not enough! Let it dry till it gets a skin, and there are still wet patches of white left. Those white patches are what will become the crackled spots on your finished product!
When the glue has set, carefully paint over it (in smooth strokes) your desired top color. Let the paint dry, and walk away. I kept looking at it and waiting for it to look crackly, my advice? Leave it alone and come back in a few hours! That way you will be pleasantly surprised at what you find! Depending on the size of your frame you can do these last few steps a section at a time on your frame. This was my first time so I am definitely gonna have to do it again to correct the mistakes I made the first go around!
Sorry for the terrible picture quality! I did this project at night. It has definitely helped me see that even the craziest of frames can be modernized and altered to fit your decor. I love the look of this and definitely want to give it another shot! This frame is headed to a friends house, where the bold aqua fits her house to a T. Play with the colors and have fun, see what you can create!
