Powdered pigments are a lot of fun to play with. These are a dry powder that has sparkle in it. There are several brands on the market which include, but are not limited to, the following:

I know there are specific manufacturing differences among the brands. But for all intents and purposes, they are pretty much the same thing and the same techniques work with them all. There are minor differences among brands, but the biggest difference I find is the selection of colors available for purchase and the way they are packaged. I will not recommend one brand over another as I do not feel my personal preference for this product is important in a product review situation. I'll stick to the facts, as I see them...and present you with as much information as I can. Let me first deal with product specific information and then we will get to the product usage information.

PRODUCT SPECIFIC INFORMATION:

1. Pearl Ex (PE): This product line has been on the market for many years, even before it crossed over into the rubber stamp market. PE comes in several colors which include metallic colors, duo colors, interference colors, and basic colors. PE also offers a "micro pearl" and "macro pearl" color, which are interesting to use. Macro pearl will allow the largest amount of underlying color to show thru, whereas Micro pearl allows less of the underlying color to show thru. While I enjoy both the macro and micro pearl colors, I find that I seldom use them.

Duo colors are ones which will look like two different colors, depending on how the light hits them. For instance: Blue-green will either look blue or green, depending on how the light hits it.

Interference colors are ones which seem to have no color at all on light or white cardstocks, but when you use them on dark or black cardstocks, the color shows up. For instance: Red interference appears white on light colored cardstocks, but when used on dark or black cardstocks you see a red sheen. The darker surface brings out the hidden color sheen of the interference color of powdered pigment.

PE is packaged and sold in individual colors or pre-packaged sets. They are packaged and sold in two sizes of jars. The large jar is about the same size as a jar of the Lumiere or Neopaque paints, and the small jar is about 1/4 ounce, same size jar that Radiant Pearls come in. Do note that powdered pigment are sold by WEIGHT and not VOLUME...so it's hard to give an accurate description of the jar size. As far as I know, PE sets are sold packaged with the small jars.

2. Powdered Pearls (PP): This is also a nice line of powdered pigments in several colors which include metallic colors, interference colors and a "midnight" color line. The midnight color line appears very dark, almost black, in the jar "as is". When the midnight colors are used on light cardstocks/surfaces, they appear pretty much just black. However, once you put them on a darker surface, the underlying color shines thru. The midnight and interference colors sound similar...the difference is that the midnight colors are very dark in the jar (i.e. almost black) an the interference colors are light in the jar (i.e. white). They do look different when applied to surfaces and mixed with or into paints. I did find that several of the colors of PP were difficult to mix into a paint or use with a blender pen because they did not want to mix into a smooth color (it looked grainy). The manufacturer gave an explanation for this with possible solutions to the problem, this is included in the TIPS FILE for Powdered Pigments.

PP's are packaged and sold in individual jars. Small size jar only, same size as the Radiant Pearls jars. Powdered Pearls are manufactured by Lemon Tree, Etc... http://www.powderedpearls.com/

3. Faerie Dust (FD): This is also a very nice line of powdered pigments that come in a HUGE range of colors which include metallic colors, duo colors, interference colors and a HUGE range of basic colors. FD is packaged in palettes of 13 colors each, 1.5 grams per color. I do not think is not sold in individual colors. There are 6 different palettes to choose from when purchasing. FD is manufactured by Magical FaerieLand Products: http://magicalfaerieland.safeshopper.com/

4. Moon Glow (MG): This is also a very nice line of powdered pigments in a wide range of colors which include metallic colors, duo colors and basic colors. I do not have the full set of Moon Glow on hand, I only have one palette of it to use for this product review.

MG is packaged and sold in 13 color palettes, 1.5 grams of each color. I do not think individual colors are available for purchase. There are 6 different palettes to choose from when purchasing. MG is manufactured by Lindy's Stamp Gang: http://www.lindystampgang.com/

5. Schminke: OK...I have to admit I do not have any "Schminke". However I do have a full set of Daniel Smith Metallic Watercolor powders, which I was told by Daniel Smith Art Supply that they are the same basic thing as Schminke. One unique thing about this product is that it DOES contain a binding agent which is not present in the other powdered pigments reviewed here. This simply means that it can be mixed with water to create a paint and gum arabic is necessary. Schminke does not come in a wide variety of colors as the other powdered pigments do. The set I have contains basically your various shades of metallic colors (gold, bronze, copper, and silver in various shades). I have an 8 color set. I think, but could be wrong, that Schminke works better with some techniques than the standard powdered pigments.

For the most part, all the types of powdered pigments (Pear Ex/PE, Powdered Pearls/PP, Faerie Dust/FD, Moon Glow/MG and Schminke) can be used in the same basic way with the same techniques. Which product YOU decide to buy and use will be a personal choice only you can make.

Powdered pigments can be used in a wide variety of ways. Let me see if I can break it down in a fairly easy to understand manner.

The key to understanding powdered pigments is simply to experiment with them. I'll give you a few ideas to get your started here. This is pretty much what I like to do and what I have found that works for me.

DESCRIPTION: powdered pigments are simply a dry powdered form of color which has some sparkle to it. You can use it as a dry powder or mix it into something and apply it wet as a paint.

DRY RUB: Take a tiny tiny bit of the powdered pigment...rub it on cardstock using whatever tool you like. This is very similar to chalking. You can "rub" it with your finger, with a q-tip, with a brush, with a sponge, just whatever. This creates a beautiful background, and you should spray it with a sealant when you finish.

DRY APPLICATION/NOT RUB: There is a really cool way to use your powdered pigments for backgrounds or for the main image of a card. First, ink up your stamp with embossing ink (clear), Versamark watermark pad or some color of pigment ink. Stamp on colored matte cardstock. Now, take a small soft paint brush, dip it gently into the powdered pigment and swish the powdered pigment over the area you just stamped. The powdered pigment will cling to the embossing/pigment ink. Try using different colors of powdered pigments over different colors of pigment inks, and on different colors of background cardstock. By changing ONE element...the color or powdered pigment, the color of the cardstock or the color of pigment ink used, you can change the entire feel of your artwork. Matte cardstock is best used for this. Spray with a sealant when done.

If you want to work on glossy cardstock, then stamp/emboss your image using foil & flocking powder (also called sticky powder) and brush the powdered pigment over the embossed image, it will stick to the embossed line. One thing to note here is that you should not overheat your sticky powder. Just heat it to the point that it melts and has a glossy look. Once you brush the powdered pigment over your embossed image, let it sit and "cure" for a while. It will still feel tacky for a little bit afterwards, but the tackiness does go away. No sealant is necessary. You can also do this on any type of cardstock you choose - matte, glossy and even vellums.

Powdered pigments can also be brush onto the sticky side of cold laminate sheets or clear packing tape for a very unique look.

Powdered pigments also look wonderful when brushed over polymer clays prior to baking. A sealant is necessary after baking.

WET APPLICATION:Since this product is a dry pigment powder, it can be added to just about any WATER BASED product and then used on your artwork. What you use depends on what look and what medium you wish to work in. You can paint, sponge, splatter, finger-paint, etc etc etc....You can add powdered pigments to watercolors, acrylic paints (either craft acrylics or artist acrylic paints), gouache, etc.

POWDERED PIGMENTS AS AN ADD IN:

Watercolor: The tube variety of watercolors work best for this application. Just put a small amount of whatever color you want (of the watercolor paint) into a small dish or palette, thin it a bit with either water or gum arabic, then add in a dash of powdered pigment. Paint as you normally would. It adds sparkle and sheen. No sealant is necessary.

Acrylic Paints/Gouache: Same directions as above for watercolors.

POWDERED PIGMENTS APPLIED STRAIGHT: (wet application)

This can be accomplish several ways

USING GUM ARABIC: To use the powdered pigment itself as a paint, you have to mix it with something (a binder) first. The first choice here is to mix it with gum arabic (GA). GA is a binding agent which mixes with the powdered pigment and helps to BIND it to the surface. The ratio of GA to powdered pigment is 1 part GA to 4 parts powdered pigment. Using a small cup or palette, put a

tiny bit of powdered pigment in the well of the palette, add in a bit of gum arabic. Mix it well. If it's too thick, you can thin it down with a TINY bit of water. Paint your artwork with this. Note here, that if you paint with the GA/powdered pigment

mixture, you really need to stamp your image with a watercolor ink pad/semi permanent inkpad/permanent inkpad of some type. If you use a dye ink pad to stamp the image, when you "paint" with this powdered pigment/GA mixture it will smear your outlines. YUK!!! Spray with sealant when done.

NOTE HERE: You can mix the PE with straight water. However, when it dries it "falls off" your artwork as there is no binding agent to hold it on.

I would like to note here that I personally prefer to use the liquid gum arabic, rather than the powdered gum arabic. I feel it is easier to use.

You can also mix up a larger portion of the GA/powdered pigment mixture and allow it to air dry in a palette. You essentially then have a "dry cake" watercolor paint. I do not have the exact measurements for GA to water to powdered pigment for this technique. However, I have tried it. I did not want to mix up a huge batch of each color, so I got a plastic 6 well palette...put about 1/8 teaspoon of powdered pigment into the palette well, added a "few drops" of liquid gum arabic and enough water to create a mixture the consistency of face cream. Let it dry in the plastic palette. To use it, swish a wet brush on the dry cake of color and paint.

Another way to use the powdered pigments is to mix them with ANYTHING which dries clear and paint with it. I find it is much easier to dip my brush in something like gloss varnish medium, then dip the brush in the powdered pigment, then paint directly on my stamped piece. Much less "muss and fuss" for me, plus a lot less waste. I have used the method above with the following "dries clear products":

Acrylic Gloss Varnish Medium
3-D Crystal Lacquer
Dimensional Magic
Beacon Liquid Laminate
Aleene's Laminate It
Ready Tex Color Extender (VERY pretty)
Elmer's Glue
Clear Fingernail polish

Powdered pigments can also be mixed with embossing powders to create custom colors of embossing powders. This is a lot of fun to do. Just remember, it takes VERY LITTLE powdered pigment when mixing with embossing powders. Keep track of what colors you mix and in what quantities, just in case you create something you love and want to be able to mix it up again in the future. You can also add ultra fine glitter to the mix for a unique effect.

I also figured out how to make a "sparkly spray" with powdered pigments. Make sure you have an empty fine mist spray bottle for this. The recipe I figured out is as follows:

3 teaspoons water
3/4 teaspoon liquid gum arabic
1/16 teaspoon powdered pigment (half of a 1/8 measuring teaspoon)

Mix the above thoroughly, pour into a fine mist spray bottle and spritz over artwork as desired. Don't spray the artwork directly, rather spray into the air and pull the cardstock thru the mist. It's cool. You could also put this mixture into a waterbrush and use it to blend out watercolor pencil or watercolor crayon work.

Another way to use powdered pigments is to use them as a highlight to existing artwork. I filled the reservoir of my waterbrush with a water/gum arabic only mixture. I stamped and colored an image using both watercolor pencils and crayons...then I dipped the waterbrush (with the gum arabic/water in the reservoir) in a color of powdered pigment and brushed over my work. I found that a nice gold powdered pigment is very complimentary to green leaves. If you have purple flowers and green leaves...use a lavender powdered pigment on the flower petals and a gold powdered pigment on the green leaves. I didn't color over the entire petal or leaf, just brush the powdered pigment along the outer edges for a sparkly highlight. I QUITE liked how this looked. I'm going to keep one of my waterbrushes filled with the gum arabic/water mixture just for this use.

Another very popular way of using powdered pigments to color stamped work is to use a blender pen with them. Just dip your blender pen into the powdered pigment and then color on the stamped artwork. Reload your blender pen with powdered pigment as often as needed. This works best on matte type cardstocks. Wipe the blender pen on a paper towel until it wipes clear to clean it before changing colors of powdered pigments. A sealant is not necessary with the blender pen.