Annie Sloan's Chalk Paint

Hello

This week as in the last several weeks I have been fixing up my studio, (actually I think it has gone into months now). I will be posting on it when it is finished (still weeks away). But I have also been using my studio to some extent this past week making pumpkins, wreaths and fall items for the flea market. 
I will be selling at Kane County the first weekend of the month for the next several months. I have way too much stuff! 

Anyway, I sent away for Annie Sloan's paint month's ago and it has been sitting here calling to me. I have been anxious to try it and see for myself what all the hoopla is about. I have had some projects lined up for the flea so I thought this was a good time.

 I am going to start out by saying I can be critical and sometimes just down right ornery. I don't like to jump on bandwagons much and usually I want to see for myself if something is good. I can be somewhat opinionated and I blame that on my German roots. With that said, I do not claim to be an expert on this paint, it is the first time I have used it and I have not seen Annie's video or tutorials.

 (I simply don't want to pay for it)  I might add that I don't mind paying for a technique tutorial but basic info concerning the paint I should be able to get off the paint can. The paint can has inadequate information on it, that would be my first criticism.  
However, I have been painting furniture for the past, well let's just say many many years and most of that was professionally. By painting I mean with technique to make it look authentically old, hand rubbed or faux... not spray painted in masses. 
So I am coming from that perspective. 

I sent away for the paint from a blog member and I really don't want to say who because it took a month to get the paint and the promotion was with a tutorial book on how to use the product effectively. I still have not gotten the book. 

But I figured how hard could it be... it really is just paint. Now I am not afraid to paint anything I want painted or experiment with techniques, 

heck I smeared Bees wax all over my walls in the living room because I couldn't get the color I wanted... but I have my rules. 

The piece I paint has to benefit from the paint, there are some pieces out there that just shouldn't be painted! If it has a wonderful patina or is naturally aged to perfection but it isn't the right color, I say leave it alone! Down the road it will be the right color or at least the right color for someone else. Or your grandmother's heirloom dining room set... All this painting good furniture with disregard to the integrity of the piece, just to get a look that will change next year is such a mistake. Now, I have painted good oak and wood pieces, I am not condemning painting, I am just saying be sure to look at the piece and do some assessments before you slather. 

Ok, now I will step off my soap box and stop preaching, I didn't mean to start on that. 

Back to Sloan, the desk that I painted needed a lot of tender loving care, it was a mess but worth saving. Perfect for this project.

One of the reasons this paint enticed me was it boasts of no prep work what so ever and it's ability to adhere to any surface, that includes metal, concrete as in flooring and even leather. No prep time! I'm there... and of course the end result in a hand rubbed old finish.
I decided on Paris Gray for the first coat, I painted on a very warm day but towards evening outside. Now anytime you paint outside your setup time will be half. This is a very thick paint and the paint went on nicely but I found I could not go over it after it started to dry, I had to work quickly, I think probably because of the hot air. It also leaves brush strokes but they disappeared after the paint dried.

 I could have left the Paris Gray with one coat but I decided to go over it with Old White and do a layered distressed look.

The Old White is very creamy in color, it is pretty but I would have liked it whiter with the gray. The colors are very limited in this paint.
The white didn't seem as thick and really was streaky but when it dried I only had to do touch ups not a second coat.
I then sand papered to smooth out and add distress areas in places I think it would have been worn. Sanding this is messy... it turns to powder. This paint reminds me of paint that has gesso added to it. 

So far I am liking this paint, but it is expensive and I know they claim it goes far, that is yet to be seen by me.
Now in years past, I have used acrylic flat paint and then used Brewax to polish the paint to give it a hand rubbed finish. I use the original color because I do not like any of the pre-colored mixes. I add my own color very sparingly. I do not like a lot of antiquing.
The Annie Sloan wax comes in original clear and a dark wax.  The dark wax is very dark. I first waxed the piece with the clear and then with the brush put the dark wax into the details. 

This is where it gets tricky,  you take off the dark with more of the clear wax on a rag. The dark does not come off easy, if you don't put down the clear wax first it immediately stains the paint. I barely used any of the dark wax.

I like the color of it but it will take me forever to use all this. It would be easier to just put a little stain in with the clear. Usually I use Old English, it has a nice tobacco color and just a drop goes a long way. This soft wax is nice but there is no lead time on the can to tell you when to buff. With Brewax I can buff in about 10 minutes.
The can does boast about the different things that are possible with this paint and they sound very interesting. They give a website to order a book and I will probably order it because it sounds like some techniques I would like to try.  They talk about some wall treatments with the wax that sounds very interesting.

Here is the finished product... all in all it looks much better than when I started.

Sorry about the shadows it is late in the day..,.

The results I would say are the same as if I would have used my other technique but it saved me time with no prep work which I like very much. I have concerns about the wax, I would not purchase the dark wax again. If this paints popularity helps teach painting techniques for the inexperienced person it is a good thing. 
All in all I would like to look more into it and see all the possibilities it has to offer.
I am late for my dear friend Debra at Common Ground's Inspiration Friday but I am going to link up anyway...
Blessings
Rebecca