DIY Chalk Paint Follow Up

Boy have I been a busy little bee over the weekend.  Last week I decided to pick up unsanded tile grout and Plaster of Paris for my DIY chalk paint.  If you remember a few posts back I'd only tried the baking soda recipe, but still really wanted to find one that would crackle.  I knew my crafting table would be coming home from my dads workshop and would be ready to paint, so I wanted to try these others out before deciding which recipe for chalk paint I like best.

On this first piece I had already sanded it a while ago, but it was waiting for me to decide what I wanted to do with it.  I thought it would make a great candidate!  I used unsanded tile grout mixed with my latex paint (recipe: 1 cup paint to 1 tbsp grout).  My first impression was that it covered well and seemed to go on and dry relatively smooth.  I painted two coats and allowed to sit overnight, then I sanded it the next afternoon.  I started out using 100 grit, but quickly changed to a finer grit (220).  This stuff comes off way to easily for my taste.  I have to wonder how well it's going to adhere to the surface over time (and I sanded this one too!) However of the three, this chalk paint recipe had the smoothest finish with little to no brush strokes.  So If your wanting a super smooth finish, this one's for you.  I would strongly recommend sanding well before painting though.  And follow up with a wipe on poly finish or two good coats of wax.  I did test a few patches of paint on scrap wood I had, I was unable to get this recipe to crackle, bummer.

For the last chalk paint recipe, I decided some ugly gold wall sconces would be my next volunteers.  I didn't want to see the gold too much underneath so I gave them a quick spray in black.  All I had on hand was a high gloss black and thought this would be perfect to see how well it would stick.  I used Plaster of Paris which I found at Home Depot in the paint section (took me forever to find).  I found two different sites using this same recipe except one calls for 2 parts paint to one part plaster, while the other calls for 3 parts paint to 1 parts plaster.  I opted for the thicker mix.  I used 2/3 cup of paint to 1/3 cup of plaster and mixed really well.  I gave the sconces two coats and again allowed them to dry overnight.  I was put off a little at first with this mix due to some tiny bits that did not dissolve well.  But they sanded off easy enough. (I don't think I mixed this very well the first time.  I had no lumps the second time around with my craft table.) 

Overall, there were a few brush strokes showing after it dried and took a bit more sanding to remove them and smooth out.  I also had to work quickly, otherwise the section I was painting would start to dry and show more brush strokes.  The edges and detailing on the sconces distressed relatively easy, but on the flatter surfaces it took some elbow grease to get down to my base coat.  In other words this adheres great!  I feel this one will last the longest of the three recipes.  I followed up with two coats of natural min wax.

After all that, I decided I was going to stick with the Plaster of Paris chalk paint recipe.  So...... I did get my craft table painted and put together.  Here is a sneak peak at the top!

 

I will be posting this repurposed table soon, so check back to see what she looks like!  I personally LOVE it, and so glad it's finally finished too.

DIY Chalk Paint

As you know I've been wanting to try chalk paint.  I don't have a local dealer to purchase from and with the price of ASCP I cannot justify the purchase with the shipping costs.  Therefore I googled DIY chalk paint and here are a few options that I found that are simply added to latex paint:

Baking Soda Video Tutorial by Alchemy Fine Living

Unsanded Tile Grout Liz Marie Blog

Plaster of Paris and/or Calcium Carbonate Savvy City Farmer

All of these seem to work well for those that have tried them.  However, Some of these items are not easily located.  I decided to try the easiest one to find and what I already had, baking soda!  I'm hoping to try a few of the others as well and compare the finish.  There are a few other things I wanted to try with this paint as well that I've not yet found answers for.  I wanted to see how this paint crackled if at all when heat was applied.  ASCP claims their paint crackles by simply heating before dry, this excited me and I was hoping that one of these alternatives would have those same qualities.  I also wanted to see how this paint performed with wax distressing.

I snagged a few wood scraps from the garage office project for my paint victims.  I also used my thrifted paint!  So the samples are not exactly my favorite color choices but they worked.  

Not sure if you can tell very well, but the paint left very little brush strokes as it dried and has a somewhat gritty texture.

So I sanded with a 100 grit first which was relatively smooth and distressed easily, then I followed with a 220 grit and got a much smoother surface.  I've noticed regular latex tends to show a lot of the sanding lines from distressing, some unwanted.  This version of chalk paint has a very minimal amount which I like alot!  I then waxed the left side with dark minwax and the right with natural. 

On this board I clearly painted a dark base color.  To the right side of the board I applied a moderately thick coat of paint and heated with my hair dryer.  As you can tell it did not crackle.  I was so disappointed but not really surprised.  It did speed up the dry time to a few minutes and allowed me to distress it quickly, but some of the brush strokes where still visible drying with heat. 

To the far left side I applied clear paraffin wax to my base coat, painted a moderate top coat, and again heated with my hair dry.  Again no crackle, but it had a more chipped look when I sanded it.  I decided to sand the middle section so you could see the difference the wax makes.

And last but not least, I made a small batch of white because I wanted to see if the white I had would turn colors when I applied extreme heat!  Some whites will change pink or other colors when heated.  So this was the best time to test both the color and the chalk paint.  The left side of this board is the chalk paint while the right side is the regular latex.  Again I painted a base color and waited for it to dry.  Then I rubbed on clear paraffin wax.  Now time for the fun part!  I applied a thick coat of paint and immediately burnt it.  This melts the wax and causes the paint to bubble and burn anywhere you've put your wax.   The paint will dry quickly this way and you can immediately apply furniture wax, which will remove the ugly black, burnt bubbles and leave you with your base coat peaking through.

The chalk paint burned a tad bit more leaving larger bubbles than the latex.  It also has a bit of a textured and almost slightly cracked look that the latex does not.

Hopefully this is helpful to some and may answer a few questions.  I hope to try the other options soon and see how they perform under the same circumstances.