Julia Andrus Artist/Designer© 2002
Methods and Techniques
Perfect Pearls ™ and Perfect Medium™

DUSTING
Stamp using Perfect Medium™. (More is not better! Load the stamp normally). Apply Perfect Pearls™ with the smaller brush (Again, just a little bit is all that's needed). Remove excess powder with the duster brush. Most applications do not require fixatives, as the resins will dry quite stable. However, if the piece is going to be handled a lot (like a bookmark or book pages) then I use a fixative or matte spray.

PAINTING
Add water to any Perfect Pearl™ to make paint. The resins are built in so there is nothing more to add. The amount of water will determine how transparent the paint is. Use to paint, splatter, sponge, etc...

SHINY STONE PAPER
Generously brayer dye base ink on heavy glossy paper (the paper skin will not be able to absorb all the ink, but you want it liberal for the treatment). Add water to Perfect Pearl™ / Perfect Gold to form a creamy paint. With a very fine mist spray bottle, mist the entire paper. Work quickly and splatter or dab gold paint on with a brush randomly (don't even think about being careful!). Spritz with a fine mist or water again. Manipulate the paper a little to make it start running. Now, crumple up a paper towel and dab lightly over the entire page to create veins and texture.

NORTHERN LIGHTS PAPER
Add water to several Perfect Pearl™ colors to form creamy paints. Sprits matte paper with Perfect Ink Refresher™ (the PIR will put some slip and slid in the paper and allows the pigments to move around on the matte paper - you can use plain water, but there wont be as much movement) Quickly dab the paints over the entire surface and spray with a fine mist of water and manipulate the paper to make the paint run.

TEXTURED STONE PAPER
Follow the directions for Northern Lights Paper but right after spritzing, use a crumpled paper towel to make veins and texture while the paints are wet.

GLIMMER PAPER
Mix Ice Stickles glitter glue with Perfect Pearls™ and enough water to make a frothy glaze. Paint on any paper for a glittered finish.

CALLIGRAPHY INK
Add water to any Perfect Pearl™ to form a thin paint. To give ink even better flow, add a little Perfect Ink Refresher. The ink flows beautifully through most any nib or capillary liner. They look like luminous gouache. Very gorgeous!

GLAZING
Perfect Pearls™ can be made into translucent finishes simply by adding enough water to form thin paint. They also mix great with acrylic gloss or matte finishing mediums and glues. Use glazes as a finishing step for watercolor pencils, pastels, permanent inks, etc...My favorite is "Sunflower Sparkle" in the Pastel collection. The particles are very sparkly.

GLAZING OVER WATERCOLOR PENCILS
Add water to Perfect Pearls™/ Perfect pearls (the white one in the Metallics collection) to make a thin glaze. Paint over watercolor pencils to pearlize right on your paper. This will always pearlize (lighter than the original color). To keep colors more intense, use a correlating Perfect Pearls™ color for the glaze. This process works on light and dark papers. You'll be amazed at the full range of colors and the dry time in only moments! Yippee!

GLAZING OVER PASTELS
Use a fixative first and glaze with any color Perfect Pearl™.

LIFTING
Pat or rub Perfect Medium™ into matte paper (you can also use a shadow stamp to create this background). Dust with Perfect Pearls™ and dust off excess. Load a stamp with Perfect Medium™ and stamp over the dusted area. The stamp will "lift" the image from the paper. Clean your stamp right away. I use a fixative for this treatment.

PERFECT PEARL ™ RESISTING
Mix several Perfect Pearl™ colors to make thin paints. Use oil stick paints, oil pastels, crayons, wax pencils, or Lyra pencils to create a design on paper. Mist the paper with water. Wash the paints over the paper - the colored areas will resist the paints.

ADDING PERFECT PEARLS™ TO OTHER MEDIUMS
Perfect pearls mix well with many other mediums. Dust air dry and polymer clays before curing or add to the clay while molding. Add Perfect Pearls™ to your favorite embossing paste (try adding a little Ice Stickles for added sparkle!). Add Perfect Pearls™ to water colors, acrylic paints, and finishing mediums. Add to dye stamp re-inkers and calligraphy inks. Always test a little first, but the resins in Perfect Pearls™ were painstakingly chosen for their versatility, compatibility, and quick dry time. Add to your favorite embossing powders 1:8 ratio. (Just a little Perfect Pearl™ will do).

PERFECT MEDIUM™ AND WATERMARKS
Perfect Medium™ makes great watermarks. They are quite vivid and enduring.

PERFECT MEDIUM™ AND RESISTING
Stamp using Perfect Medium™ on glossy paper. Brayer dye base ink over the top. The stamped image will "resist" the ink. This process can be done in layers for more color.

PERFECT MEDIUM™ AND EMBOSSING
Perfect Medium™ makes a great embossing ink because it is tacky and holds the powder firmly in place. It is a good choice when working with UTEE or also very fine powders.

PERFECT MEDIUM™ AND CHALKS/PASTELS
Stamp using Perfect Medium™ on matte paper. Apply chalk with sponge applicators over the stamped image. Chalks are actually powdered, dry pigment pressed into a cake. The Medium will change them to paint and permanently set them. They will intensify in color. Very cool. Try a Sunflower Sparkle glaze over the top - my favorite thing to do.

Perfect Pearls are an exquisite product. They are so versatile and are very high quality mica pigments. The price alone is just outrageous to me...(in a good way). I think the brushes included in the package alone are more than worth the entire price of the package. But noooo, Ranger doesn't just give you ONLY what you are paying for here. For a mere $15 you get TWO high quality brushes, the Perfect Medium Inkpad (which truly IS perfect!!!) and FOUR colors of Perfect Perals. In my way of thinking...I am paying $15 for two brushes and I get everything else for FREE !!! (that makes each brush about $7.50, and I can tell you've I've paid WAY more than $7.50 for some of my brushes) Another thing that is good is that in the ONE package, you get EVERYTHING you need to fully utilize this product. You don't have to go buy gum arabic, you don't have to figure out the correct proportions of gum arabic to Perfect Pearls to water when mixing to a paint. You don't have to buy a special inkpad. You don't have to buy and use spray sealants. The only "extra" thing you have to provide is cardstock and stamps (and we have that already). Sealants aren't necessary since Perfect Pearls aleady have a binder in the powder...this is truly an amazing feature especially for those who have any type of respiratory problems.

How do you use these beautiful Perfect Pearls? There are NO RULES and NO LIMITATIONS. There isn't much that can't be done with them. You can use them dry for dusting over a stamped image, you can use a waterbrush (or wet paint brush) and paint with them (no muss, no fuss painting, you don't even have to mix with water this way, just dip the waterbrush or wet paint brush in the powder and paint on the cardstock)....you can mix them with water to form beautiful paints. The paint can be anywhere from extremely translucent (more water, thinner paint) to extremely opaque (less water, thicker paint). Perfect Pearls mix and suspend beautifully as a wet paint. You can mix the Perfect Pearls into just about ANY waterbased product and have beautiful results. Perfect Pearls also mix wonderfully into either standard polymer clay or liquid polymer clays.

Why should you buy Perfect Pearls rather than the "other" brands of powdered pigments on the market? If you want "quality, versatility and ease of application"...buy Perfect Pearls. Perfect Pearls accomplishes this with ONE product combined in ONE package for a very reasonable price. The fact that Ranger now offers open stock on each color of Perfect Pearls is also another reason to buy it. Perfect Pearls are a high quality artist grade product, not a craft grade product. You won't be disappointed.

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:

Pearl Ex (PE)
Powdered Pearls (PP)
Faerie Dust (FD)
Moon Glow (MG)
Schminke
Perfect Pearls

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 (just eyeball 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.

I'm sure these are not the only ways one can effectively use powdered pigments. I do hope it gives you enough information to try them!

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.

6. Perfect Pearls: Perfect Pearls are the new powdered pigment created and sold by Ranger Industries. You may wonder what makes them different than all the other powdered pigments (such as Pearl Ex) on the market. Perfect Pearls contain a binder within the powder itself that is lacking in all other powdered pigments on the market. This means you don't have to add gum arabic to your powders to create a watercolor paint and you don't have to spray it with a sealant when you are done. Perfect Pearls comes in a package of four colors, which includes two brushes (VERY nice high quality brushes, one fine point for detail painting and one larger round brush for dusting) and a "Perfect Medium" inkpad which is used to stamp with and allows you to brush the dry Perfect Pearls over the wet ink.

You can mix the Perfect Pearls into a watercolor paint simply by adding nothing more than water. The more water you add, the more translucent the color becomes. If you don't want to use a palette to mix the powder into a paint, then use a waterbrush or blender pen. Just dip your waterbrush or blender pen into the powder and then apply it on your surface. The colors are translucent enough that you can mix shades "wet into" directly on your surface, or apply a wet color on top of a dry color and still achieve beautiful shading and highlights. Perfect Pearls are also outstanding when used in combination with other products such as watercolors, pastel pencils, chalks, colored pencils, mixed into wet Radiant Pearls, markers, etc etc etc.... as I said, they are EXTREMELY versatile.

1. with liquid gum arabic: Tip some dry powder into a palette well, add a couple drops of GA and mix to make a paste. Add water to `proper' consistency. I haven't used the dry gum arabic, but it is available through Daniel Smith.

2. with Acrylic Matte Medium: Tip some dry powder into a palette well, add some acrylic medium. Add water to desired consistency. It would work with Gloss Medium also, I just didn't buy any.

3. with Perfect Paper Adhesive: basically, same way as above

We all preferred the gum arabic for the following reasons.

1. When you are done with the gum arabic mixture, you can just let it dry out and reconstitute it with some water when you want to use it again. Try THAT with left-over acrylic based mixture (unless someone has a trick they want to share for reconstituting dry acrylic)

2. Since we were mostly using previously embossed images on dark paper and 'coloring in' with the paint, we noticed that the gum arabic mixture seemed to resist the embossed outline much better than the acrylic mixes...hence we had a cleaner end result without ickly residue on the embossed outlines.

3. The PPA mix especially was very very dull. No one wanted anything to do with it. I talked to Sue about it, and she agreed that the PPA mix was more 'matte', which may be exactly what you want for some applications. Just keep that in mind when you make a choice about media to mix your powder with.

4.. Clean-up is much easier with a watercolor type product vs. an acrylic one...especially if you get engrossed in painting and some of the acrylic stuff dries out some place you don't want it.

TECHNIQUES:

1. Color a card using brush markers. Use a blender pen, make-up sponge applicator or your fingertip (Q-Tips don't work well for this) to rub Faerie Dust over part of the colored image. Interference Green is fabulous over a dark green marker color on leaves-the dark color underneath allows the interference color to show through, and it looks best if you don't cover the entire leaf with FD. Add highlights with any of the metallics to floral images colored with markers or with FD in a floral shade. Try this technique in reverse, coloring the petals and leaves with a metallic FD (don't color the image with markers) and then add touches of Shimmer Green, Malachite or Forest to the leaves, and use any of the floral FD colors to add a touch of color to the petals.

2. Backgrounds: Faerie Dust colors blend together easily. For a mottled look, dot different colors on your cardstock and blend slightly. Then stamp and emboss your image.

3. Embossing powders: Mix 1/4 tsp of Faerie Dust with 1 tsp clear embossing powder (you can cut down on the volume, just keep the ratio 1:4 The interference colors especially look great over black pigment ink. Scarab Red is a duo color (burgundy and teal). I mixed it with clear EP, then embossed over black pigment ink. The result was a soft black with just a hint of burgundy. Turned the card slightly and the image turned to a gorgeous dark teal. Then I used it over Chianti pigment ink-the image was then a true burgundy. Turned the card slightly and it was a lighter shade of teal. Try adding ½ tsp. of ultra-fine glitter to the FD/EP mixture --just think of the possibilities!! In figuring out the proper ratio of FD to EP, I used toomuch FD at first, which resulted in an unevenly embossed image. Instead of tossing those, I heated the EP long enough for it to melt back into the cardstock and the resulting image looked exactly as if it had been stamped with an Ultimate Encore Metallic inkpad.

4. Brush Faerie Dust over an image stamped with pigment ink. The FD sticks to the ink, and you can (gently) brush the excess away. I use a brush from an old blusher compact but any brush will do. Depending on the colors of cardstock and Faerie Dust used, you may have a halo effect around the image (e.g., using a dark Shimmer color on white or light cardstock). The image does need to be sealed afterwards with a spray sealer or fixative (even hairspray will work). To avoid using a sealer, use Colorbox Crafter's Ink (this is a permanent pigment ink) and heat set twice.

5. Stamp and emboss an image (any color of ink or EP). Rub FD over the embossed image-it sticks to the embossing. You may have to seal this depending on what FD color you use. Generally, I find I don't need to use a sealer with this technique.

6. Painting: You can make wonderful paints by mixing FD with a variety of mediums. I like using it with blending gel the best for a nonpearlized paint (even though Faerie Dust is pearlized, the pearlescence is less evident in a translucent medium). It also works well with gloss medium for a glossier look. For pearlized paint, thin a pearlescent medium with water (about 4 parts medium to 1 part water, use more or less water as needed). Then mix Faerie Dust directly into the medium/water mixture. I mix paint by transferring a small bit of medium with a paintbrush to the inside of the Faerie Dust lid. I then pick up a tiny amount of that color of Faerie Dust with the paintbrush and mix it with the medium. That way, I can mix very small amounts of paint. I use up all the paint I've mixed before replacing the FD lid.

Sandy Lemons sandylemons@EARTHLINK.NET
There IS a problem with a *few* of the Pearl colors. There IS a chemical difference in some of the Pearls. The chemical difference is pigment and dye. The difficult colors are DYES. Just like the dye in your dye ink pad. The easy to mix ones are pigments. There are only about five colors in all the 33 colors of Pearls that are dyes. Unlike other companies who deny this is a problem, we know it is and can help you fix it. ALL brands of mica that are dye based will have this problem, not just Powdered Pearls. I saw someone else mention alcohol. I don't recommend that for OUR product because the problem that alcohol fixes is not what you are dealing with. Here's what you do for the time being.

1. Mix the dry Pearls with the dry gum arabic. Mix well.

2. Add a drop of dish washing liquid to the dry mixture. Stir it around a little.

3. Add a few drops of water..begin mixing. Keep mixing. Mix some more. Work up a sweat mixing . If the Pearls are too dry for what you want to use them for....