I scoured the internets recently in search of other people posting unexpected results with Annie Sloan Chalk Paint. All I found was someone occasionally having bleed through issues (which, isn’t really any issue for me, I’ve seen it all and worked through it all without much stress. P.S. by far the easiest way to deal with unexpected bleed through is to wipe a quick coat of wipe-on poly over the first coat of paint, then doing a second coat, and it won’t bleed through. The poly seals it.)
So, I’m here to tell you that Annie Sloan Chalk Paint can CRACKLE! AND I LOVE IT! It only happened on the tops of the chairs and on the top of the arms (on the captain’s chair). At first I kinda freaked, but then I noticed, it wasn’t flaking at all. It was just crackling! And I didn’t want chips to come off during the distressing process, so instead of my usual distress then wax, I waxed first, THEN I distressed. That way, the wax filled in all the little crevices and gave it a completely smooth finish, and when I distressed it using a low grit (80), it cut right down to the wood, so it didn’t risk causing the paint to chip.
Some chairs had more crackle than others but all of them had it show up after 2 coats of paint.
If you didn’t like it, you would for sure notice it after the 1 coat was drying, so I would suggest going back over the tops with a low grit sand paper, then a medium grit, then a fine grit, to fully remove whatever type of residue that is causing the crackle. BUT, like I said, I loved it. It really gives it some genuine character that often only can happen with age (if you don’t add a crackling medium).
On a side note, after I distressed the legs, it revealed the natural grain of the wood, which turned out pretty neat!
I love the crackle finish. I’ve been told to rush the drying process with a blow dryer and it will result in a crackle. Have fun!
June
I waxed and then distressed once and I thought it gave a great finish. Who knew?!
I’m not a huge fan of crackle but I like how it looks on the chairs. As I am sure you know, when we paint we have to “roll with it, baby”. I always sing that Steve Winwood song when things go array.
I had the same thing happen on the doors of a buffet I painted in country gray. It was more subtle than on your chairs but it looked so authentic.