Chippy Paint Experiment

I am a huge fan of the chippy paint look. Whether it's old, weathered and naturally chipping, or it's made to look that way, I love the rustic look. I have seen tutorials for making your own chippy look, so I thought I'd give it a try.

I didn't want to experiment on something with alot of surface area, so I decided that a mirror would be my laboratory. I had picked up a mahogany mirror at an auction and knew I wanted to make it a fun color. So began the turquoise chippy mirror experiment!

I should note that this experiment began after 10pm, so I was taking the quick and easy route. I decided to try the Elmer's glue technique. Because this was a late-night, first attempt, I did not adequately document with photos. I did another small experiment after the mirror, and that was fully documented, so I will post that one too!

I began by taping off the mirror.

Then I used craft paint (you know, the 59 cent kind) to paint the frame black. You can always leave the wood, or choose a different color. This base color will the what shows through the chippy-ness.

I wasn't really sure how much glue to use, so I just began squeezing out glue squiggles on the biggest flat surface of the frame. According to other tutorials, you squeeze the glue on, spread it with a foam brush and let it set for a minute or two, and then put your paint over that. Well, after I spread the glue and brushed on the color, I quickly realized that I had put on too much glue! It was a watery mess.

Watery.

I let it dry some more and then scraped it all off. I cleaned up the experiment area and then started again with less glue on the other side of the frame.

Scrape. 

Wiped clean.

This time went much better! And because I wanted to speed up the process, I grabbed my hair dryer to make the paint dry more quickly. As soon as the hair dryer hit it, the crackling began!

Paint applied gently. 

Chippy-ness begins!

After some playing around, I learned that when you apply the paint, if you only use one brushstroke to spread the paint in an area, the chippy effect turns out better. I guess there's less disturbance of the glue underneath? Also, use very light pressure and gentle strokes.

Once you get the hang of it, the process goes very quickly. The longest part is waiting for the glue and paint to dry, so that's why I recommend the hair dryer...or if you're fancy, a heat gun.

A close-up of the chippy look.

After the paint dried, I applied two coats of finishing paste and gave it a good buff. Then Miss Chippy took alittle ride and ended up in my booth!