Perfect Pearls

Stamp set used: Blockheads Love & Hearts

This month the Blockheads Design Team is promoting Perfect Pearls. I'll be featuring a couple different projects that utilize them, as well as sharing some (hopefully) useful tips.

I will admit, when I first purchased Perfect Pearls many years ago, I used them once, drove myself insane with failure, and tossed them into my let's-think-about-that-later drawer. I couldn't see what the big deal was. A few years later, I felt like experimenting with some different techniques and stuff in my stash that I'd been ignoring for a long time. Out came the Perfect Pearls. They haven't been put back since.

Perfect Pearls are pigment powders with a built in resin. They can be used dry or wet and give any project a shimmery pearlized finish. For today's post, we'll be using them dry.

I find that the easiest way to adhere Perfect Pearls to cardstock is by using Tsukineko's Essential Glue Pad. That way you don't have to spray a fixative on the finished product.

The picture below shows the items I used: Glue pad, Perfect Pearls, soft brushes, and black glossy cardstock. I chose the black glossy because it has a much more striking appearance when finished than regular cardstock. Also, excess powder doesn't cling to it the way it does to other cardstocks - that isn't necessarily a bad thing though, provided you want the entire project to have a shimmery look.

To begin with, and this is important: make sure your hands are clean and free of any lotions, etc. Anything like that, if it touches the cardstock, will attract the powder. Gently stamp the image. Even though the glue pad has plenty of tack to it, it will still slip on glossy cardstock if you're not careful.

Next, dip the brush into the powder and tap or gently shake the powder onto the image. You won't entirely coat it, but this will help distribute it.

With a straight up and down motion (as opposed to sweeping or brushing), dab the powder into the gluey image until it is completely covered. Tap the edge of  the cardstock against your work surface to remove excess powder, then set it aside for a few minutes to allow the glue to completely dry. Once it is dry, use a soft cloth to wipe the surface and remove any excess powder.

The cool thing about Perfect Pearls is that you can use many different colors to achieve whatever look you want. As you can see in the example below (using Blockheads Greco Roman stamp set), it is very easy to blend edges together with them!

Here you can see the difference, using the same colors, on white glossy versus black glossy. It's amazing the different "feeling" you can achieve simply by switching out the paper color, isn't it?

If you're anything like me, you will end up with dust all over the place. I'm really good at spilling stuff too, which is why there is such an excess of blue on my craft sheet! It's near impossible to sweep this stuff up and force it back into the container, but don't just toss it! You've got the makings of a beautiful background paper.

Below, I have simply spritzed the craft sheet with a fairly liberal amount of water and then swirled it around with my fingers. (Have I mentioned that I like messy?)

I took a sheet of watercolor paper, moistened it, and put it down on top of my soggy, shimmery craft sheet. Voila! I now have a shimmery background that I can use for other artwork or more cards. As it turns out, I've been inspired to use it in an art piece. I promise I'll share the completed project soon.

So. Drag those Perfect Pearls out of hiding, or get yourself a set, because this is just the beginning of a beeeeeee-YOOOO-tiful friendship!