Pearl Ex Tips, Techniques & Colour Chart

Pearl Ex is extremely easy to use. It's incredible flexibility lends itself to a vast array of techniques. Your biggest problem may be deciding which rechnique to use. Here are some ideas to get you started:

- Mix Pearl Ex with a clear embossing powder for rubber stamp embossing. Pearl Ex in itself is not an embossing powder.

- Interference colours work best over dark surfaces

- Mix 4 parts Pearl Ex to 1 part gum arabic and add water to desired consistency for a watercolour paint. If mixing in a plastic well palette, this mixture can dry out and become reconstituted with water.

- Dust Pearl Ex powders onto shrink plastic before shrinking. The powder will become embedded into the surface when the plastic shrinks.

- Dust a polymer clay rubber mold with Pearl Ex before pressing in the clay. This is a great way to colour the clay. It also makes the clay easier to release from the mold.

- Mix Pearl Ex with Jacquard Colorless Extender for use on fabrics. Heat set as directed on the bottle.

- Mix Pearl Ex with an appropriate clear medium to use over any surface. For example, you can mix Pearl Ex with a varnish, acrylic or solvent based, as a coating over clay, wood or paper.

- Dust Pearl Ex onto any surface and then seal with a spray lacquer suitable for that surface. Spray the lacquer out over the surface and let the mist fall onto the surface rather than spraying the lacquer at the surface. This will give you a more even coat of lacquer without the spray marks as well as preventing the spray from blowing off the Pearl Ex.

- Knead dry Pearl Ex into polymer clay to colour it.

- Pearl Ex can be mixed into glycerine soaps in soap making and wax for candlemaking.

- Pearl Ex can be mixed into a medium and airbrushed. Some testing will be necessary to ensure that the particle size will fit through the airbrush opening.

Please note that because computer screens differ, your screen may not display the colours accurately. Actual colours may be slightly different from those displayed below. The triangular swatches simulate application on a black background.

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