Tyra Smith, Cloud 9, Tips & Techniques

Radiant Pearls
(LuminArte http://www.luminarteinc.com/)

Elaine EFell62295@aol.com
I have also used these over pencil and markers to get a totally different effect.

Nancy Curry ncurry@MAIL.WIN.ORG
Necessity is the mother of invention (at least in my life).....I had to babysit my godson at his house yesterday but wanted to play while hewas sleeping............of course, with my gigantic stash of RPs!!! I got all the paints out in the color order that was pleasing to me, found some 140 lb watercolor paper (wanted mat board) and set out to whip up some masterpieces. Hmmmmm, no brushes nearby. Hmmmmm, don't feel like moving ( I forgot what toddlers will do to you) ....AH HA!!! I will fingerpaint with my RPS....No kidding, I sat for at least an hour fingerpainting and having a blast with those magical little pots. OK.......I created some gorgeous variegated backgrounds that just needed an accent color to spiff them right up. FYI- different fingers produce different patterns............AH HA again...I found some twine and cut small pieces and dipped those in the pots and carefully dropped them sporadically on the paper...neat effect as each one looked different. Hmmmmm, not quite finished.......OK...I finally had to go downstairs to Stampin' Sneak's stamping room..............AH HA.....She had UTEE handy. I began embossing the backgrounds with clear...layer after layer (couldn't find some holographic powder I wanted to sprinkle in..will have to do that at my house). When they were as thick as I wanted, I stamped (gold pigment) a Hot Potatoes dragonfly stamp into them. Ooooo la la.

Christine Cox christine@coxes.com
On black matte paper stamp and image in pigment ink and then emboss using black EP. Now, take a small brush and paint portions of the image with bleach (I'm working on the Magenta Southwestern Pots stamp). After the bleach has dried (5 minutes or so), go back with a tiny (clean, no bleach)brush and paint Radiant Pearls over the bleached area. The effect is the same as the RP on white cs except that all the surrounding area is on black cs. Another thing I've done is to just paint the RP right onto the black cs. This gives the effect of interference paints but a little more subtle. I'm using both techniques in this Southwestern piece I'm doing and it's coming out very neat.

Tyra Smith Cloud9@netnet.net
First, I used black pigment ink, stamped on glossy and embossed with clear EP. The stamped image dulled slightly, as I knew it would, but I didn't have any black detail EP (it's on my list of things I now MUST have). Since RP's won't dry on glossy... I knew I would have to cover it with some EP, liquid glass or UTEE. I began to color in my image, one color at a time. When I would finish with one color, I sprinkled on some EP and hotted it up. Then I went on to the next color and repeated the process until I finished my piece. OK..so this WAS a bit excessive. Really, I only needed to finish off the piece and then sprinkle it with EP and hot it up. BUT..this did give me the chance to experiment with using multiple types of EP within ONE piece. I used a plain clear sparkly EP first. This leaves a nice crisp color. Then next I tried using some pearl EP...this gave a satiny sheen to the underlying color. What next? Why I tried holographic EP!! Didn't appear to be much different than the clear EP really, but it gave me a chance to see clearly how the different kinds of EP would look used in once piece. I quite liked the effect. Some parts were satiny, others were clear and sparkly. Unique if nothing else. But, as I wanted to cut this piece out with my exacto knife and use it as a layering piece, I wanted it to be more "stable"...more stiff. So I decided to apply Liquid Glass over the top of the entire piece. I could have used clear UTEE...however I have found that UTEE dries and is more brittle than liquid glass. So, for a bit of flexibility, I chose to use Liquid Glass. Sponged clear embossing fluid lightly over the piece, sprinkled liquid glass on it and hotted it all up. COOL..however I have noticed that all my colors are a bit more subdued...more of a pastel. Not bad though...I can use pastel. What is really cool about using an embossed image to color with RP's ... is that the embossed lines act as a natural resist to the RP's. So when you paint, the embossed lines tend to act as a barrier and keep your colors where you want them with very little effort.

Next I decided to try something different, something that would leave my colors bold and vibrant when dried. I figured, matte cardstock would be my best bet. Since I'm new to RP's...I decided to go straight for the white matte cardstock because your colors paint true on white. So, I stamped my image using Ranger Archival Ink/Black. It's suppose to be waterproof, and would work with watercolors, so I felt it was a safe choice to use with RP's. Turned out I was right. Noooo I didin't do ANY embossing this time, just a straight stamped image to color in. What type of cardstock did I use? I used a cheap brand of Wassau white matte cardstock I bought at Office Depot...it was all I had on hand at the time. So, now I"m ready to paint with the RP's. I found you MUST paint them on VERY thin...let it dry (and it will dry in a few minutes really...use your heat gun from a distance to speed drying time if you must) then you can apply another thin layer if you want the color darker. Every time you add a layer of color, it darkens the area. Cool...makes me think.."shadows!". I started in the center of the design and painted outwards, mainly to keep my hands clean and not smear any paint. Once finished, I let it dry about an hour and was VERY impressed. My colors stayed bold and vibrant... OK...now what else??? This is the time I decided to start working on the set of 4 fairies, you have seen them if you emailed me and asked for scans of the Radiant Pearls artwork I completed. So I stamped with Archival black ink on the white matte cardstock and started painting. Since I only had 9 colors at the time, I found myself lacking colors I felt I needed. What to do? Improvise!!! RP's are a waterbased product...what else did I have that was waterbased? Markers....watercolor pencils..hmmmmm. I first tried lightly using my watercolor pencils in areas where I wanted a certain shade, say pink. (only had a very very light pink RP and I wanted it darker) So I dipped the brush in water, swiped it over the end of the pencil..and applied it to the area on the cardstock where I wanted pink. Let it dry briefly...then applied the light pink RP over the top. Gave it a very subtle, soft feel!!!! LOVED IT. Ok..so I looked at my piece. The one fairy had a garland of roses across the bottom portion of her dress. No red RP..what to do? Well I wanted those roses a deep red, so I used my dark red marvey leplume marker and colored in the roses and tiny leaves. Let it sit a few minutes then went on to coloring the dress and the fairy, her hair,etc...using RP for all of those. I did NOT apply RP to the rose garland. Stepped away for about an hour to help hubby in the kitchen, when I came back and looked at my piece, MY GOD...the rose garland seemed to JUMP OFF THE PAGE AT me...it was SOOOOOOO 3-dimensional....incredible!!!!! I found that you can also alter the hue of the RP very easily. Let's say you want a red color but don't have it in RP. I took a red marker (doesn't matter WHICH brand or type of marker you use, but embossing markers seem to work really well for the darker hues)..took that marker and swished it in the bottom of the plastic well, which left ink. I added a very tiny amount of the Golden Honey (because I wanted a hint of gold sparkle) and mixed. WOW..red!!! Well, turned out it painted on much lighter than I anticipated, but that is OK. So the dress had a light pink and I wanted it darker. Scribble on the side of the same plastic well with the same red marker, use my paint brush to bring a bit of the RP up the side and into the marker ink..paint it on top ...darker red...yes....!!! Ok..now I'm seeing ALLLL kinds of uses for shading here, using the same basic color. Gives a dress, or fabric, that free-flowing "look" you've always been after!!!!

Now I talk to Leslie...find out all I had to do was use the marker on TOP of the existing painted area, then smooth over it with a bit of RP on my brush.....WALLAH...shading again!!! COOL!!!! Ok...now I've goosebumps...what ELSE can I paint on???? Found some drafting vellum I had bought a long time ago and never used. So I stamped on it with archival black ink...let it sit. Then I started to add in my RP's. At first, the RP didn't seem to want to adhere to the drafting vellum...kinda beeding up on me. Well, I worked the paint back and forth over the area with my paintbrush and slowly it began to absorb into the drafting vellum without ANY beeding problems. Trick here...very very THIN layers of RP. So...I let it sit..will it dry? hmmmm no it doesn't seem to want to air dry. I knew I could shake EP on it and hot it up...but I wanted it to dry `as is". So I bring out the trusty heat gun and heat it, but I kept the heat gun quite a ways away so I wouldn't burn the drafting vellum. Slowly, it dried...

OK...so I'm on a roll here...then I notice..Ohhhh NOOOOOOO.....the black ink outlines NEVER DRIED...how could that be? It didn't smear when I painted OVER it...but sure enough, I had placed the palm of my hand on the stamped outline and smeared it...good grief.

AS it turned out...I didn't have to worry about that black outline drying. As long as you make sure you get some color of RP over every outline, and you would in the course of painting the entire image, then it's sealed by the RP. WOW!!!! Now....as I looked at that little "test" draft vellum piece....the paper is translucent..and I'm thinking.. STAINED GLASS WINDOW!! Ohhh yeah!!!!!

Barbie Boop barbieboop1@JUNO.COM
All the things you can do with RP's: -barbie boop

(it's a thick liquid paint like substace-with an irridescent hue to it.) They are translucent like watercolors You can water them down for a lighter look You can blend colors Use your old CD's or plastic lids… as a pallette. Save them in a zip bag!

Mix PP (powdered pearls), PE (pearl ex) or Powdered Mica with them Brayer it onto paper for great background paper Use a paintbrush and paint images in. Water down and PAINT OVER colored images.

Water color (pencils or crayons) stamped images in. then paint the RP over top. Try to find a close match.

Clear emboss over the RP images… to seal the color and make them look real shiney and pretty Stamp an image on black (or dark) cs then color in with RP's. Emboss then Bleach out an image on dark cs then color in with RP's.

Use your stipple brushes to stipple some backgrounds!

Sponge boarder around your cards

Sponge paint your images in.

Emboss a dark image onto white CS then rub/brush 2-3 RP colors over top for a neat effect!

Browns, yellows,gold, rose, purples and greens are great for leaves Remember when mixing your Rp's to write them down so you remember next time!

Sponge brush your RP's onto rubber (bold images) and stamp with them-clear emboss over top. (words look great! Flowers are real pretty!)

I have a big background stamp of feathers-I like to stamp and emboss it in black. Paint the feathers in with the RP's one color at a time and then clear emboss over them. Go onto the next color and do the same. When all the images are painted in… then using 2/3 colors …. Stipple in a curcular motion to make swirls of color all over the whole image… clear emboss again. Leave it like this or.. brayer clear emboss over the whole thing! You can blend/ shade images in by grabbing 2 colors onto your brush and painting the images in. while painting slowly turn your brush so that both colors end up coming off the brush… looks really neat!

Sponge in a "pulling" motion to make your grass.

Sponge/dab colors in to make a sky… blue, pink, purple, orange, yellow, red, rose… (finally I understand sky colors! Be daring! )

Sue AQSue@AOL.COM
Playing with products is a daily event in the USAQ studio, and Lori and Julie (the staff artists) were playing with Radiant Pearls about 2 weeks ago. They discovered that if a drop or two of Perfect Paper Adhesive-gloss (from USArtQuest) is mixed into the dab that is placed on the palette, then it does two things. One - PPA extends the RP colors, thus making it last longer, without changing the color or characteristic 'painterly' quality. Two - it dries much faster on nearly every surface. (For instance: Since the PPA sticks to glass, and Radiant Pearls would almost not ever dry on glass, it was a good test.) While still allowing for plenty of blending time, the PPA dries the mixture much quicker, and it becomes water resistant to boot! In addition since RP's tend to fade quickly, the samples we put into direct southern sunlight using PPA, resisted fading much faster than they did without the PPA. I just love discoveries like this one. It makes doing art ever so much more fun!

Tyra Smith Cloud9@netnet.net
The key to success when using Radiant Pearls is your surface or cardstock of choice. Lighter colored cardstocks work better, as much of the color of the paint tends to get lost on black/dark cardstocks. Radiant Pearls need an absorbent surface to air dry. The more absorbent the surface, the quicker they air dry. I have found that Radiant Pearls will air dry on almost all brands of matte cardstock, wood, gesso, and on GLAMMA Brand of vellum only.

They do not air dry on ANY non porous surface such as, but not limited to: many brands of vellum, glossy cardstocks, glass, vinyl, plastic, transparencies, etc... If you use Radiant Pearls on one of these surfaces, it is generally best to use clear embossing powder on top of it to seal it because it won't air dry. I personally do not prefer to use Radiant Pearls on any surface where it won't air dry because when I have used clear embossing powder on top to seal it, it seems that the "shimmer" is lost under the embossing powder.

Radiant Pearls may be mixed to create custom colors without muddying. They may also be tinted for custom colors using standard dye ink re-inkers, markers or powdered pigments. Radiant Pearls do have an extended wet time on most brands of cardstocks which I find quite useful.

I do not recommend "thinning" Radiant Pearls with water to create a wash because the "shimmer" does not remain equally suspended in the paint when thinned with water and the "shimmer" can be lost.

Radiant Pearls can be used with a wide range of techniques which include painting, stippling, brayering, sponging and even finger painting.

Because Radiant Pearls has a high glycerin content, you can paint an embossed image and the Radiant Pearls will "pull away" from the embossed line. This is nice.

You can also sponge Radiant Pearls directly on your stamp and then stamp with it for a very soft, shimmery unique feel.

Radiant Pearls are not very lightfast, though they are more lightfast now than when they originally came on the market.

I did accidentally find out that Radiant Pearls do not work well if you apply a liquid sealant of any type on top of them. I had painted a wolf's eyes with a nice turquoise blue color of Radiant Pearls and let it dry. I then want to "raise" the eyes for a dimensional effect, so I applied 3-D Crystal lacquer on top of the eyes. After it dried, the eyes were cloudy and the color seemed "lost". I also created a porcelain magnet and applied Liquid Laminate on top of it for a glass like appearance/finish. After it dried, I went to look at it, and somehow...the color was all gone, disappeared. I honestly don't know where it went. Moral of the story...don't use a liquid sealant on top of Radiant Pearls. Do note that a sealant is not necessary with these paints.

I would like to say that Radiant Pearls are stunning on Glamma Marbled Vellum. They are just translucent enough to allow the marbling of the vellum to show thru the color which creates a very beautiful shimmer stained glass window effect. The paint is very lovely on matte cardstocks as well.

For information on related topics see:
Tips & Techniques: Faerie Myst
Product Reviews: Radiant Pearls