Misted Rock Salt Chipboard Tutorial

I hope you are having a lovely week! This Thursday is Thanksgiving here in the US, so I've been busy preparing for my part our Thanksgiving meal and reflecting on all I have to be thankful for. We will be going to celebrate the day with my husband's family. He's Italian, so it's a tradition to have ravioli along with the traditional turkey and fixings.

If you're a regular follower, you know I enjoy doing fun things with chipboard. I altered a technique by Michelle Grant to suit the Maya Road Doors in the ScrapThat! November Kit.

 I've recreated this technique for you using a chipboard gear from my stash. 

Misted Rock Salt Chipboard Tutorial

Supplies:

Chipboard

White gesso or acrylic paint

Tattered Angels Glimmer Mist ~ Almost Black

Rock Salt **

Ranger Crackle Accents
Mod Podge - Glossy

Prima Distress tool, or other wire brush.

Paint brush

Craft Mat (Optional)

Heat tool (optional)

**I have been asked what kind of rock salt to use. There are a number of options, but any pure salt that is chunky like in the photos will work. That includes rock salt for ice cream makers (What I used), Rock salt for deicing your sidewalks and driveways (Make sure it is pure salt with no chemical additives), kosher salt, or the chunky salt that goes into salt grinders. Regular table salt is too fine to work properly for this techniques.

Step 1: Paint chipboard piece with white gesso or acrylic paint. Allow to dry or use a heat tool to speed things up. If you use a heat tool, don’t hold it too close to the painted chipboard and keep it moving or your wet gesso can overheat and form bubbles.

Step 2: Mist with a dark mist. I used Tattered Angels Almost Black mist, but you could use any non-paint based brand or color that is translucent or even make your own from re-inker.

Step 3: Immediately cover the chipboard with rock salt. The salt draws the wet mist on the surface and leaves a beautifully splotchy and distressed surface as it dries. If you have a more solid chipboard piece, you could use less rock salt and spread it out some. With the door in the kit and this gear shape, the chipboard is narrow so I used a heavy coverage of rock salt. You can let this sit overnight, or give it 10 minutes or so for the rock salt to draw up the ink, then use your heat tool to speed the drying time.

Step 4: Once the rock salt is sprinkled/piled on, mist again.

 

Step 5: Once the mist is completely dry, brush off the rock salt. This really has some nice distressing. I could have easily stopped here but wanted even more dimension and kept on going.

Step 6: Use a stiff wire brush to remove some of the mist, leaving scratch marks.

Step 7: Squeeze some Crackle Accents across the piece, then spread it out with your finger.  Set aside to dry. Do NOT use the heat tool. (You could also use Ranger’s Clear Rock Candy Crackle paint for a similar effect.)

Spread out:

When dry:

Step 8: When the crackle is completely dry, it will be loose in spots and flakes off easily. I decided to go with this and chipped off some of the crackle here and there for a more weathered, distressed look.

Step 9: Using a paint brush, apply a sealant so the crackle will stay in place. I used glossy Mod Podge. If you don’t have a sealant product, you can thin down regular white glue that dries clear. (Elmers or similar product).

Now here is what it looks like when dry:

I hope you have learned something new, and will have fun playing with this technique. You can stop at nearly any point along the way if you like what you see or experiment with different colors and products.

If you give this a try, be sure to share your finished product in our ScrapThat! Gallery.

More of our Design Team's tutorials can be located in our ScrapThat! Forum.

Thanks for stopping by! I treasure your comments.
~ Blessings~