More experimenting with metalFX

Last weeks play session with the metalFX and nailpolish really got me quite excited about the varying ways we can add colour to metal. There are of course traditional, and heat patinas. These either require the use of chemicals, and or fire - not an option for everyone. Gilders paste comes in a wide variety of colours, and dries rock solid hard - but for those of you who also suffer from 'collectemallitis' like I do, it can get more than a little pricy.  That said, a wee tin of gilders paste will last you forever!

Enter nailpolish, metalFX, and a can of spray varnish! It's fun, cheap, and has the added bonus of being pretty much instant gratification. You can see my initial experiments with it in the Breath of Spring inspiration from last week.

I managed to get a few better pics of the process this week.

 The above image shows the metalFX just after it has been applied. I've been experimenting with varying different ways to apply it. Brushing it on, or blotching it on with lots of excess will give you completely different looks. You'll want to experiment with it both ways, as it depends on the bead/finding that you're using with method looks better.

Above, I've brushed off most of the excess, and purposely roughed it up a bit to allow the base metal to show through. The beads were then sealed. I've tried two methods: 1) a top coat of nailpolish, and 2) a coating of clear spray varnish (the one I had on hand was Painters Touch Clear by Rust-Oleum)

Both work quite well to seal in the metalFX and prevent it from flaking off. I found the spray varnish gave it a harder coating, but would probably depend on the quality of the nailpolish top coat that you use (I just had cheap stuff) ;-)

If you decide to play with this process - we'd love to see what you come up with!