July 14, 2008

Cloisonne is an ancient metal-working technique, involving soldering pieces of wire to a metal base and filling them in with glass enamels in varying colors. Faux Cloisonne is a technique I have learned from Eugena Topina. It is created using polymer clay, wire, mica powder and a glass like top coating.

There are a variety of materials that can be used to create the top coat, many of which I have personally tested. The key to using any of the following materials is to have a studio that is warm and slightly humid.

Top Coat Materials

1. Resin
2. Triple Thick Gloss
3. Triple Thick Spray
4. Sculpy Gloss
5. Faux Dichro Liquid Glass
6. Magic-Glos
7. Future Floor Polish
8. Varathan

Resin can be purchased from any craft store, as well as home improvement centres. It is one of my favourite products. It is thick, although does need a couple layers, it is shiny and very hard. In warm humid conditions it can dry in 24 hours, if it's cold, like winter in Canada, it will take up to a week to dry. Due to the chemical reaction air bubbles are created, but can be removed by exhailing on it. The only problem I have are micro air bubbles raising to the surface while it is drying. I have yet to find a "cure" for this.

Triple Thick Gloss comes in a jar and can be purchased from Michael's. It is incredibly thick. Getting the top coat thick is very important. But using a material that is already very thick makes it a little too tempting to load it on. This delays drying time from a few hours to a few days and makes it harder to control and remove air bubbles. Once dried it is not super hard and is vulnerable to impressions, which do go away in time, but it isn't a desirable effect.

Triple Thick Spray, comes in a can and can also be purchased from Michael's. Unlike it's gloss counterpart it is very thin, but has a beautiful shine to it. I don't recommend this product for this type of work, when it comes in contact with skin it starts to warm up and becomes tacky and stays that way.

Sculpy Gloss is made for polymer clay. It can be purchased from Michael's or many online stores that sell polymer clay supplies like Polymer Clay Express. This an excellent product for it's high gloss finish, but you would need about 50 coats to get it thick enough. I use this as my last coat over the top coat.

Faux Dichro Liquid Glass can be found at Polymer Clay Express and Fire Mountain Gems. This is a great product for finishing flat items with only one coat. However faux cloisonne is not flat so you need several thin layers. It creates a fantastic shine. DO NOT put over Sculpy Gloss as it will turn a milky blue color and create a strange chemical reaction and peel up.

Magic-Glos can only be purchased from Covered in Clay. It is created by Lisa Pavelka. It rivals the Resin, in that it too is clear, thick, and dries very hard. The only set back is it can only dried through UV light, you can purchase a UV nail light from her site as well.

Future Floor Polish can be purchased at any home centre. It has a perfumed smell to it and dries quickly, about 20 min. The first coat soaks into clay and is even thinner than the Sculpy gloss, you would need 100 layers to make it work. But is great as a simple coating.

Varathan can be purchased from any home centre. It is a fantastic product with a very high shine once dry, dries in 20 - 30 min. When first put on it is a whitish blue color. It too needs several coats to get the right effect. I find it is perfect for things that only need one or two coats.

You'll need to test these products for yourself so you can find what works best for you!

May 6, 2008

My site seems to be up and running normally, it feels like it took forever to get to this point. But the extra work was worth it. It has a completely different look and feel compared to my last site. I'll be posting more jewellery for sale very soon. I'm experimenting with some new products. I'm testing out Future Floor Varnish, Lisa's Magic-Glos, Triple Thick gloss and spray. So far the spray does not work well, when it comes in contact with body heat it becomes tacky. The Triple Thick gloss is just that, it's thick! It has a nice look once it's dried but it's time consuming. The Future Floor Varnish is fast to dry  but needs many layers, but in the end has a decent result, and application is the easiest. Lisa's Magic-Glos I'm still experimenting with. I got a light for a lizard tank to help cure it, it takes a little longer then the instructions say, but it's better then waiting 3 days for resin to dry! I'll write more when I'm done testing products.