 In addition, he created his own badger-hair paintbrushes similar to those that Vermeer was known to have used.He came up with a scheme of using phenol formaldehyde (Bakelite) to cause the paints to harden after application, making the paintings appear as if they were 300 years old.After completing a painting, van Meegeren would bake it at to to harden the paint, and then roll it over a cylinder to increase the cracks.