How to Apply Antique Glaze

Have you ever wondered how to add an antique glaze finish to something?  It is really very easy. I found this vintage frame at my local flea market for just $7. I love the great gesso detailing. It is the perfect kind of detail that antique glaze will help to show off!  

A very simplified description of how to antique glaze would be: slosh it on then wipe it off...  It really is that easy!  

But here are the step by step instructions with a few important tips you should know.


First, it is best to glaze over a satin or a semigloss paint.  Note: You don't want to apply glaze to a flat or matte paint finish, as flat paint is porous and it would absorb too much of the color pigment.  Satin paint is my favorite as it is low sheen and it is easy to wipe and work the glaze into the crevices and details.  My frame was a gilded gold when I found it.  First I painted it with a coat of cheap primer and then I used Rust-Oleum Spray Paint in Satin Heirloom White. This paint is one of my absolute favorite colors as it is a very clean off white color. I love to use it on furniture and accessories!  It can be found in both spray paint and also by the quart. 

     
The picture above is the frame sprayed with heirloom white before I applied the antiquing glaze to it. The above picture is a good shot for showing how clean the off white color is.

Notice on the pictures below that my frame has lots of age cracks and crevices in the old gesso details. I wanted to make sure all of the details and even the age of the item showed... as I find the distressed age so beautiful! That is why I decided to go with the antique glaze on this beauty. It helps to show off all the wonderful details...

I had some Valspar (Lowe's) Antiquing Glaze from a prior project so that is what I used.  It is a water based product so it is easy to use and easy to clean up.  I use a paper plate as a palette (the place to pour some glaze to dip my sponge or brush into).  It's cheap, but I mostly use it because it's super easy to clean up (which I love!).  I just throw the paper plate away when I'm done.  I also often use sponge brushes as they are like .39 cents each so they are disposable too.

Just pour some of the antiquing glaze onto the plate/palette and sponge away. I used a fan bristle brush to get the glaze into the smaller details. Any brush would work, I just like my fan brush for some reason.

First i did a small section as a sample test area.  I just brushed the glaze on, then waited a couple of minutes. Glaze usually gives you a good 10 or so minutes to work with and wipe off.

After a couple of minutes, wipe off the glaze (with a soft dry cloth, I like microfiber... don't use your good dish towels, the glaze will stain, I keep some craft towels around that I rinse, wash and re-use).  Keep wiping until you achieve a look that you like.  Once you get too much glaze on a section of your towel, you may need to turn or fold the towel to another clean section on it (I hope that made sense). Your towel will wipe off glaze more easily if the area on the towel you are wiping with if fairly clean.  If doing a huge project, you may want to have more than one wipe towel on hand.  It literally took less than 20 seconds to get to this look.

Next I generously applied glaze down the side of the frame to a larger area now that I had a feel for how easy it was.  It is however always a good idea to work in smaller sections rather than doing an entire piece all at once.

After this, I did the same brush on, wait a few minutes, wipe off... section by section.  I just love the way it started looking!

I got brave on this bottom corner and did a larger section.  Then I got a phone call which required me to leave my project and go into another room to handle something. It kept me away from my project for 25 or 30 minutes. I was a bit worried that the glaze might not wipe off evenly since I had waited so long. I was right, it didn't want to wipe off as easily, but I just wet a towel, wrung it out, then wiped off the glaze as before. The moisture on the towel softened up the glaze allowing me to wipe it easily... (Thank God!)

Note: If I were doing a furniture piece with a glaze.  I would seal it with a polyeurethane (clear finish) over it to protect it (as glaze can scrape off or scratch). Being that my frame will be hanging on a wall, I didn't feel the need to clear coat it.

Here it is... My finished Frame after applying the antique glaze. I absolutely love how it turned out!

Until next time,
Happy decorating!

Diana