Crackle Apothecary Bottles!

Hi everyone!
I hope you guys have been having a great summer! I know it feels so soon, but I've already been getting into the swing of fall! It will be here before we know it! Plus I love fall crafts, so I'm actually pretty excited about this change of pace. Today's craft is apothecary jars! Ben Franklin just got in some more really cute bottles and jars, and I wanted to really transform them into aged and crackled ingredient bottles!

Supplies: 
3 glass bottles of assorted sizes
spray paint in black, and gold
crackle gel
paint brush
acrylic paints in gray, charcoal, and gecko green
jute
black cardstock
white pen
hole punch
scissors
optional: gloss sealer spray (to keep them from chipping)


First, you'll need to wipe down your bottles. Then spray one by one with your black and gold. Let sit to dry for 15-30 mins.

Once they are dry to the touch, using your brush, apply a generous coat of the clear crackle gel to the entire visible surface of your bottle. (There's no real need to do the bottom.)

 

Next, wait about 5 minutes for the gel to dry enough to feel "tacky" instead of "wet". 
Then will a clean brush, one color at a time, lay strokes of paint over the gel. Be careful to not mix the gel and top layer of paint. The key is to lay the paint right on top. The thicker your paint, the thicker the cracks will become. The thinner the paint, the smaller and finer the cracks will become. It's perfectly fine to have a mixture of thicknesses! I think it adds more dimension and variety to the crackle. After all, when things age, they don't age and wear down in exactly the same way in all places!

The direction of your strokes also really matters. You want to stay consistent and brush in all the same angles:
-all up and down
-all side to side
This technique will create an organized look about your piece. Like wood grain. 

 You can really tell in the paint stroke direction in this picture! The green bottle I went up and down, and the gray one I went side to side. Also the gray one had thicker paint strokes, so you can really see the cracks more visibly!

For the tags, I cut out squares from black card stock, hole punched the tops, and hand wrote the creepy crawly ingredients! I also drew a white border around the edges of the paper, and then I tied them on with Jute!

Have fun with your crackle paint!
It's available at any local House Mart Ben Franklin.
Happy crafting!

Bethany @Enchanted Lake