Pearl Ex Pigments

[Rusti]

[Rusti]

What do you guys mix yours with? Do you mix them in with your paints or do you use another medium?

[Tara]

I just used my pearl ex powders a couple weeks ago. What I did was I mixed them in with my Liquitex Gloss varnish. It worked petty well. I think what medium you use depends on what effects you want. Using a clear coat as your base is going to give you the full pearly effect but it can be tricky to get a nice color with using it strictly as “paint” as I did. If you’re going to mix it in paint I would recommend using a transparent paint as an opaque paint it likely to hide most of the pearlescent effect. Hope this helps 🙂

[Nightcrow]

Rusti wrote:

What do you guys mix yours with? Do you mix them in with your paints or do you use another medium?

I drybrush mine over a coat of glossy varnish. (Adding a layer of the gloss on top changes the way it looks; so sometimes I do it, sometimes I don’t.) Mostly I do this to the interference colors, but I’ve also done it with Micropearl and Gold.

I have also mixed them with the varnish, which gives a slightly different look. The result varies a lot depending on how concentrated you make it, from almost-unnoticeable to nearly white.

I added Micropearl to white pearl paint to try to give it a more Windstone-y look; not sure if it succeeded, but I do think it made a slight difference…? Maybe that one was just me, though.

In my gallery you can see some examples of how the various methods turned out for me:

Drybrushed over varnish:
1. The undersides (outsides) of the black and white griffin’s wings — note how faint/dusty the interference is compared to the backs of his wings!
2. The interference colors on the wing feathers on “Lauren’s Dragon” are (I’m pretty sure) drybrushed over varnish without a topcoat. The scales above the feathers are Micropearl done the same way.
3. The gold edges on the thigh/arm scales of “Laura’s Dragon” — sort of, anyway. They were applied without a layer of varnish underneath; they’re directly on the paint. (They did receive a topcoat of varnish, but I don’t have pictures of them like that!)

Drybrushed over varnish, varnish applied again:
1. The back of the black/white griffin’s wings — this is three or four layers of varnish-interference-varnish-interference-varnish-etc. Very strong, very shiny colors.

Mixed with varnish:
1. The bottom edge of the wings on “Lauren’s Dragon” is green interference mixed with varnish before being applied. (Probably varnished over again just for extra protection.)
2. Same dragon, different place: the whitish edges of his neck scales are blue intereference mixed with varnish. I used a LOT of interference and a small amount of varnish; in person, you can see the almost white appearance of the powder as it looks in the bottle!
3. Same dragon, completely different result: along the top of each crest scale is a streak of Micropearl mixed with varnish; very faint, just enough to create a subtle difference, and probably doesn’t even show up in the gallery photos.

Edited to add: Link to gallery

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[LadyFirebird]

I’m still playing around with mine–mix them in paints and I also mix them in the Liquitex Varnish as a final coat. Gives an interesting effect and I like it. Not overly glitterly but when you get it in the sun–WOW! I sometimes mix in a dark powder in a clear coat and put it over light paint–gives a hit of that darker color. I like them! 🙂

[stephan]

i dry brush or do what they suggest using gum arabic thats how i have used them wet,a little gum arabic they dont tell you water but i always use a little water to,and some mica powder mix it together your all set to go,but it really comes down to how you want to try them 🙂

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