Folk Art American Flag

I was watching an episode of Anitra Mecadon's "Mega Dens" on DIY network. She made an American flag out of lumber and hung it in a big family room. They didn't really go into detail about how they made it but I was inspired by that piece to try and make my own version using crackle paint. 

I did a lot of research on line and found out you can do a crackle effect without buying expensive crackle paint. The secret is Elmers school glue! 

The first thing I did was get my lumber pieces together.  I know the proportions aren't exactly right but they're pretty close. I made seven shorter strips and six longer strips for the stripes on the flag. The strips came from free lumber we got last year. I think they are cedar siding. I liked them because the lumber is rough and has "wormholes" which I think add character. I got a thinner piece of plywood for the rectangular star section. A single piece of plywood is for underneath all the strips and star field.

I painted each piece of lumber flat black. That is the color that will show through the crackles. Then I painted a layer of glue and waited about 5 or 10 minutes before painting the top color on (either the red, white, or blue). I used a flat exterior paint. 

I made a pattern out of cardboard of the stars and traced them onto five large paint stirring sticks. I used my Rotozip to cut the stars out. I just painted the stars without trying to do the crackle on them.

I let all the strips, stars, and blue field cure overnight.

The next day I glued and screwed everything together.

The glue dried and I added pipe brackets in the back. Through those I threaded some barbed wire to use as the hanger. It's not so easy to see the barbed wire but maybe if you enlarge the above picture (by clicking on it) it will show up a little.

I think I used the barbed wire to make some sort of statement. I'm not really sure what that statement is but I like it.

Here is the finished product hanging on our shop. 

Just in time for September 11!

PS- Thanks to son Wil, for his help with the stars. (He made a better star pattern than my first one and helped cut about 20 of the stars out.)