"Remember your not icing a cake!" Annie Sloan ~ Boston Tour 2012

Little did I know that these were the words that would be consistently repeated! Annie was showing us the proper way to apply her wax and she said to the room... 'Remember now your not icing a cake; think of it as rubbing lotion into your hands!'

That small descriptive example has helped so much that I use it over and over when a customer buys a tin of Annie Sloan™ Soft Clear Waxes. Not so much with the dark (or Rustic) wax, that it is meant more as a decorative or ornamental function rather than a protective one!

**Try to use as little wax as possible!

You may wish to purchase a Wax brush or just use any lint free rags.Apply a small amount (on whichever tool you fancy!), and rub in SMALL circular motion. You are rubbing the wax into the Chalk Paint™ and you will be able to tell exactly where you have applied it based on the colour of the surface. (Like pavement that gets wet in the summertime and then dries, this is how you know).Try not to go over and over it. You will get a yucky, tacky, waxy mess! If this happens, as with any 'errors', it can be easily fixed by painting over it, sanding with very fine sandpaper or using small amounts of low odor mineral spirits on the surface.Once you are done, wipe off any excess and allow 24 hours drying time.If more of sheen is desired, buff and polish your piece with a buffing brush and polishing brush or a lint free rag.For high traffic surfaces, allow a 21-day cure time for ultimate protection!

NOW... applying Dark (Rustic) Wax to your pieces. Unless you are waxing a dark colour such as Graphite, Olive, Emperors Silk, Primer Red, Napoleonic...to name a few. DO NOT apply Dark Wax directly to your surface as you will stain your colour! Your piece will look ruined and dirty and the only way of fixing this after all that hard work is to start again.

Always apply Soft Clear Wax to your surface and follow with Dark (Rustic) wax and follow that by wiping off excess dark. Finish your piece with a final light coat of Soft Clear wax! As previously stated - if you have used too much or if you think your piece looks more dirty than it does aged and time worn, you can use sand paper or low odor mineral spirits to remove build up and it will blend beautifully!

TIP: Once you have finished waxing your piece, run your finger along the surface. If you see a finger mark you have used too much wax. ~ Barb Skivington (Annie Sloan™ Chalk Paint™ certified trainer)