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I am very interested in knowing about the hairspray and pearl ex technique.....I saw someone at a show recently who had what appeared to be pearl ex powder in spray bottles and she said you just add water and shake them up and spray them on card stock for a shimmery look and then she sprayed them with hairspray afterwards.........it made a great background.......she sold the powder in the spray bottles as well. In reviewing several posts, websites etc. about pearl ex it has been said that it needs a binding agent for it to stay onto the piece it is being applied to.....do any of you think that something was mixed in with the powders to just be able to add water and mist onto the project or would the hairspray be the binding agent that is sprayed on afterwards? I have not tried this myself and was wondering if anyone out there could throw some info my way....I did read that gum arabic can be mixed into pearl ex for painting purposes and then add water but to just add pearl ex and water would only flake off the project. I have never worked with gum arabic before so I do not know if this would "gum" up the squirt nozzle....(no pun intended).
Thanks in advance........I have found you all to have a wealth of knowledge and I know one or many of you will know just what I need to know.
I buy the little travel size hairspray bottles, one for each colour, and just add the Pearl Ex powder to it. I sometimes get a few large droplets of spray on the cs but can I make a larger peice than I need and cut out the best parts. Someone posted that certain brands of hair spray work better.
I bought a travel sized "spritz" hairspray, don't know what brand, and added silver pearlex to it. Like the look, will try other colors of Peal Ex. My problem is that the hairspray gets gummed up in the spritz nozzle really easily. I read somewhere that if you run the nozzle piece under warm water it'll soften it up and it'll work better. Gotta try that.
As far as I could tell, the Pearl Ex didn't need any other binder other than the hair spray to stick to the cardstock. Some cardstocks get darker spots where the hairspray came into contact with it, they fade slightly. Overall it is pretty cool!
Gretchen in SC
I use the sample/travel sized bottles and add about 1/4 to 1/2 tsp. of Pearl Ex. At convention, in the demonstrator theatre, one of the demonstrators said she adds a bb to hers...it helps to break up the clumps that settle to the bottom after the PE has been in there a while...I'm going to try that myself.
What is bb? I have tried adding PX to a travel size hair spray bottle and I could hardly tell it was there when I sprayed it on the cardstock. I used the misty lavendar color, is there one color that shows up better than others?
I think by "bb", she meant an actual bb - the little round pellet like for a bb-gun. That way when you shake it around, the bb will break apart any clumps. Correct me if I'm wrong here...
I saw a card using this technique the other day. I was beautiful. It was really rust card stock and it was shimmering with gold. Very subtle, but beautiful! I am definitely going to try it myself.
:oops: Ohhhh... another blonde moment! :lol: I just thought with all the abbreviations used that it stood for some stamping thing! Luckily I work with a bunch of hunters! I'm going to see if I can get some freebee's!
I am assuming that you all don't use a whole bottle of this at a time.....so....after it has been hanging around awhile have you tried using it again after it has sat around for a week or two and does it still spray and work......granted I can imagine you would have to clean the nozzle but is this procedure wasteful or does it keep so to speak.
I mix 1/2 teaspoon (or more depending on the effect I want) into a small spray bottle with Rubbing Alcohol!!! I guess I usually add the PE to the bottle first and then pour in the alcohol! The nozzle never clogs up. THe PE does "settle" to the bottom between uses, but I just give it a good shake before I start my projects for the day and it is good to go for the afternoon. Once I have sprayed the PE/alcohol mix onto the CS I then use a cheap hairspray which I spray into the air and then quickly swoop my PE creation through it. THis way I get no blotches or large droplets of hairspray and it is not sticky later. Just a little hairspray will do it!
I am a SU demonstrator and I had this promotion last holiday season that I was giving away alcohol at my workshops last year because the hostess gift was the botttle I demonstrated that technique with! All the customers thought that was a hoot!
The aztec gold looks GREAT with bargoque burgundy CS! I find the darke the CS the cooler the effect! Although I does look great on glossy CS too!
Thank you..that is the first one I have heard using alcohol and it makes a little more sense to me that it wouldn't gum up as easy..........the stuff I saw at the show where she added just water to it was called something like glitz spray or glitzy spritz and moon something so I wasn't sure how it would stay on the card stock without something premixed into the mica powders.........who knows......probably a family secret. I will have to experiment soon.
I also made my "shimmer spray" with rubbing alcohol in a tiny spray bottle from the Container Store. I only filled the bottle up 1/4 of the way, though. I was afraid that if I made an entire bottle I would be stuck with it even if I didn't like the color of PX that I used! Just making a little bit at a time has worked well for me because I can try different colors of PX without having to buy lots of little spray bottles!
The final product (depending on which color you use) looks very similar to the Shimmery White cardstock in the catalog... of course, I didn't realize this until I bought the cardstock! Oh, well!
My paper warped. Did I do something wrong? Should I put the paper under something after I spray it. I used regular hairspray with a fine mister. Put 1/2 tsp PE in the bottle and added two fishing sinkers to make sure it mixed well. I couldn't see the effects on white paper, so I did it on black and the black curled.
I bought several little bottles of travel size hairspray for different colors. Then I bought a large bottle of (same brand) non- aerosol hairspray to refill them. Aztec gold is gorgeous on Real Red, and Silver PX is just as beautiful on Night of Navy. It's very addictive! The micropearl PX adds a great shimmer to any color CS.
To avoid big blotches & CS warp, I spray in the air (over some newspaper or you'll have glittery carpet!) then swoosh the cardstock through the mist. I do this several times, moving the area I hold the CS so that I don't have any "voids" from thumb & fingers. My hands are very glittery by the time I'm done.
__________________ Happy Stampin',Charisma
When my children complain, I remind them "If the world didn't suck we'd all fall off!" My itty-bitty SCS Gallery
I just tried this - I LOVE IT - here is how I did it.
I used
1 part rubbing alcohol (1 1/2 TBSP)
1 part hairspray (1 1/2 TBSP)
1/4 tsp PE powder.
Shake and spray.
I used 3 colors (in seperate bottles)
Super Copper
Silver
Micropearl
The micro pearl sprayed on US white is just like "Shimmery white"
I just took the paper out in the yard and laid the paper on the grass and sprayed it well, the breeze helped it to dry fast and eliminate the warping.
Thank you to whom ever drempt this up! I need to go make something with this new toy!
I called my nephew and he will be delivering a dozen "bb's" later today - he just laughed at me and said "it's for your stamping huh? - I don't even want to know the rest!" he is so funny.
__________________ Sylvia - Stampin Woman
x~x~x
If you want to leave an impression - send a card.
If you want to leave a great impression - stamp the card yourself!
I just made four more sheets of "Shimmery White" cs using the recipe that I posted earlier with the MicroPearl pearlex powder and this time it warped/wrinkled the paper so I waited till it dried completely and just flipped it over and ironed it with a very warm dry iron and now it is fine. just wanted to post this little hint!
have a great day! I am soooo loving this technique - thanks to whomever came up with it!
gotta go I have cards calling my name!
__________________ Sylvia - Stampin Woman
x~x~x
If you want to leave an impression - send a card.
If you want to leave a great impression - stamp the card yourself!
be sure to shake the bottle of mix every time you go to use it, and if it has sat for a while. I tend to spray well above the card stock and let the hair spray fall onto the paper. I don't have problems with blobs very often. I just use walmart brand non aerosol spray. The paper will curl up, but it will relax as it dries. Once it is dry, I lay it under a heavy book for a little bit, then I put it into a folder that I keep all my pearl ex papers in. I have not ever found this paper to be sticky after making it. Not sure why others have had a problem with sticky paper. Love hearing the color combinations others have used.
I just made four more sheets of "Shimmery White" cs using the recipe that I posted earlier with the MicroPearl pearlex powder and this time it warped/wrinkled the paper so I waited till it dried completely and just flipped it over and ironed it with a very warm dry iron and now it is fine. just wanted to post this little hint!
have a great day! I am soooo loving this technique - thanks to whomever came up with it!
I just made four more sheets of "Shimmery White" cs using the recipe that I posted earlier with the MicroPearl pearlex powder and this time it warped/wrinkled the paper so I waited till it dried completely and just flipped it over and ironed it with a very warm dry iron and now it is fine. just wanted to post this little hint!
have a great day! I am soooo loving this technique - thanks to whomever came up with it!
Here is a card I made using the PE/hairspray technique. I used Silver PE on Night of Navy cardstock, as well as on the vellum. Not sure if you can see the shimmer in the photo, but it looks great in person.
Interestingly, today I was stamping with some of my buds and one of them was showing me this Pearl-ex, gum arabic, water spray to make shimmery paper that she had learned about at a local stamp store. I told her about the hairspray-PE technique, but I have never had good luck with it (too many blotches). After reading this thread, I think I will try it again with some bb s added.
Anyway, my friend said the stamp store advised adding powdered gum arabic to water, letting it sit awhile to dissolve, and then adding the PE. I have some gum arabic laying around here from when I used it to make paint with PE, so I think I'll try it. Also, think I'll try the alcohol idea.
With everyone saying how cool this looks, I'm determined to get it right!
So along these lines, does hairspray work for keeping the chalks in place/keeping them from smudging even when you're not adding anything to it?
I love to make very "chalked" up creations but hate to get the color all over my fingers and those of the recipient.
Thanks!
As far as spray bottles go, I bought mine at Walmart. They were in the travel-size area. They are empty so you can fill with whatever "formula" you decide is best for you. They were only .50 each and they have 6 (I think) different colors. I used a label on the side so I could remember which px I used without spraying it. I now have 8 different ones.
With regard to how well they last, I made mine last August. I just used it for a swap last month. It took a while for the powder to mix back into the hairspray (I'll have to add bbs, sounds like that will help me a lot) and they turned out great!
My formula is 1/4 to 1/2 tsp of pearlex in the bottom and fill the rest up with the cheapest hairspray I could find!
Oh, also, to avoid the curling of the cardstock, spray above the cs instead of on it.
__________________
~~Dawn~~
Mom of ShaSha, Bethy, JoJo, Wesser-man, Reesy, Mini-man and Sami "Don't say no and then stick to my butt like a carb." ~ Heather_M
Hairspray and Pearl ex
