All About Antique Wax for Crafters

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Looking to give some of your wood projects a vintage look? Here’s all about antique wax for crafters.

When doing some of my wood projects, sometimes I like the worn look of vintage wood. The wood looks aged and has a lot of character. Using a special type of wax, you can achieve this look.

What is Antique Wax?

Wax has been used as a finish and polish for wood for years. It protects wood from stains and gives it a nice sheen. As wood is porous, it is able to seep into the layers nicely.

Antique wax is a wax finish that has been tinted. Typically it is tinted brown, grey or even white. Since it adds colour to your wood, it gives it an aged, vintage look.

It is available in hardware stores, craft stores and online.

How to Use Antique Wax

You can apply this on raw wood or wood that has been painted.

Here are the steps for application on wood:

• If you are painting your wood, do that first. Let dry.
• Give your wood a light sanding. Pay particular attention to the edges and the ends. I think it’s nice when some of the raw wood is exposed.
• Using either a brush or a cloth, apply the antique wax.
• A little goes a long way. Start with less and build up if you want more coverage.
• Using a cloth, remove the excess. You want to leave streaks or the colour, but you don’t want full coverage. Allow to dry according to the instructions.
• I like to give another light sanding, but this is optional. You can also buff it with a soft cloth.

I used antique wax on these little wooden blocks, using 2 different colours and 3 different types of paint.

• Martha Stewart Interior Paint
• Milk Paint
• Chalk Paint – for my recipe for making your own chalk paint, check out my post here.

I only painted one coat on each of these. There is not much difference between the interior paint and the chalk paint. Antique wax has quite an effect on the red paint.

If you don’t want the end result to be too dark, you can first apply clear wax first. This will act as a bit of a barrier so that not so much of the darker tinted wax will seep through.

Antique wax has a lot of uses from small crafts like ornaments, to larger wooden signs. I can’t wait to share some projects with you.

I really like the look of antique wax on wood. The application was easy and it achieved the effect that I was wanting. I like that the wood still looks like wood and that it is not completely covered.

With the holidays coming, I’m going to be doing a lot of projects using this wax so be sure to stay tuned!

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