Fairie Dust Compiled 
by Marya ---- 17 March 2000
# posts: 21


Friday's DOD on Faerie Dust, discussing using a blender pen, painting with mediums and applying it dry. 

Discussing applying Faerie Dust dry, with a blender pen and with mediums. First, here is a little educational info about pigment powders. 

Pigments: Dry, powdery materials that possess color. Either organic (containing carbon) or inorganic (without carbon), they come from many different sources and can vary greatly in their characteristics. They are the primary components of paints, pastels and inks. The art industry uses a very small percentage of the pigments
available--the largest consumer by far is the car industry (gotta paint all those vehicles)! 

Natural inorganic pigments are natural earth colors (ochres, umbers, siennas) and are mined directly from the earth. The colors these pigments possess is due to the presence of iron oxides and hydroxides in the earth. Calcining (roasting) these pigments results in a warmer, deeper color. 

Natural organic pigments are of vegetable or animal origin.

Synthetic inorganic pigments (mostly metallic compounds or synthetic replications) and synthetic organic pigments are produced in laboratories.

Metallic pigments are ground mica. 

Pearlescent /iridescent powders have been used for years in the making of candles, soaps and make-up. Pearlescent powders were once made from the fish scales of herring and are now made synthetically. 

Interference colors are made by binding metallic oxides to mica particles. On white paper, interference pigments show only a slight hint of color. 

Light interference produces the brilliant colors when interference pigments are used on darker paper. 

Dry pigments have little or no affinity for paper or whatever surface you apply them to and must be mixed with a binder (gum arabic, oil, acrylic medium, etc). The pigment particles do not dissolve but remain dispersed or suspended in a medium.  (Note from Marya: I do not find the first sentence to be true--I have often applied Faerie Dust dry or with a blender pen and have not had to seal the image.) 

There are many pigment powders that are toxic (cobalts, cadmiums, etc.). All of the
pigment powders used in Magical Faerie Dust are nontoxic.  There are only two
manufacturers of pigment powders in the U.S. I purchase from the same manufacturer as Pearl-Ex. All of the techniques discussed today apply to Faerie Dust, Pearl-Ex and
Powdered Pearls. 

There once was a pigment powder called Mummy, made from bone ash and asphaltum
obtained by grinding up Egyptian mummies. Its use was suddenly discontinued in the 19th Century when its grisly composition became generally known to
artists. Mummy is not used in Faerie Dust. 

My web site is : ( http://magicalfaerieland.safeshopper.com/ ) There is a techniques section where you can read the instructions that are included with sets of Magical Faerie Dust. 

First, we'll talk about applying Faerie Dust dry. It can be applied with your fingertip (yes, it washes off) or with a sponge applicator (the kind you use to apply eye shadow). Q-tips don't really work well for applying FD. 

Mickey, you said that you have received cards colored with FD and that you can rub the color off. Yes, the image should have been sealed. Sealing an image can be avoided by applying a small amount of FD and rubbing it in well to the image. FD goes a long way and should be used sparingly. 

A Gallery of images is at the bottom of the web site home page (click on Gallery, then click on Magical Faerie Dust). The first card in the Gallery is a windmill image that I made about a year ago. I applied FD with my fingertip and a sponge applicator. I rubbed the colors in well on Kromecoat cardstock. It didn't need to be sealed but I did seal it because I like the look of a gloss sealer. FD was applied with a sponge applicator on the Pink Rose.  The Pastel Roses is another example of FD applied dry. On the roses on the left, color was in the appropriate area (Shimmer Yellow on the roses with Shimmer Rose used for shading, Shimmer Green on the leaves, and Shimmer Yellow and Shimmer Blue on the background).
On the roses on the right, FD was applied in a broad stroke (with fingertip), Shimmer Blue at the top for sky, Shimmer Yellow for sun, Shimmer Rose on the roses, and Shimmer Green for the leaves. This is not a very good scan and doesn't show nearly how pretty the card turned out, but it was part of a journal study and I don't have the original to rescan.  The two images were layered on glossy marble cardstock, which
accented the pastel FD colors beautifully. The Pink Rose and the Pastel Roses didn't
need to be sealed. Next post, we'll talk about using a blending pen. Marya

Joanne mentioned that she had tried applying FD with a blender pen and it looked
smeared. 

The most important thing to remember when using FD with a blender pen, applying it dry or mixing it with a medium for painting, use a very small amount of Faerie Dust. When using your blender pen, dip it in the FD but get just a tad of FD on the end of the brush tip. It's better to apply too little than too much. You can always add
more FD if you've applied too little. The Indian Headdress in the Gallery was colored in
with a blender pen on clay. The Calendar Page was also colored using a blender pen. Faerie Glass was added to the Christmas lights, but the glass doesn't scan well, so the
color is mostly from FD. When applying FD to broad expenses (such as the Windmill image), it's better to apply it with your fingertip or a sponge applicator. The Pink Rose is an easy image to create with a blender pen and FD (although I applied it dry with a sponge applicator). The leaves were colored with a blender pen, though, using yellow and green FD. The Roses image next to the Faerie Castle image was colored with a blender pen. The flowers were colored with Crimson and Wine, and the petals were edged with gold. Leaves were colored with Malachite.    Marya

You can use Faerie Dust on any kind of cardstock. The Windmill image was done on white Kromecoat. I am not a fan of glossy cardstock, but I did try coloring an image on white glossy to see if FD would stick and it did. 

The non-Pearl-Ex colors (i.e., the colors I make--all the pastels and the darker shades of red, yellow, blue, green) work best on glossy cardstock when applying FD dry or with a blender pen. 

FD colors that are also carried in the Pearl-Ex line (the metallics, duo-tones and
interference colors) must be painted onto glossy CS using gum arabic, gloss or matte
medium or adhesive (such as Perfect Paper Adhesive) or a pearlescent medium. 

Blending gel has an extended drying time and works well on
all types of cardstock except
glossy. 

Faerie Dust can be used on many different surfaces--paper, clay, ceramics, wood, plastic, fabric. When applying it to plastic, FD needs to be painted on using gum arabic or a gloss/matte/pearlescent medium. 

On fabric, FD needs to be mixed with a medium that will not wash out of the fabric. You can create a stained glass card effect using either acetate or laminate. FD is applied to the opposite side from the image. 

On acetate, FD should be painted on with gum arabic or one of the painting mediums. On laminate, it is brushed directly onto the sticky side. 

Mickey Almost forgot you asked about blender pens. Dove, Tombow and Marvy pens work fine with FD and they can all be refilled.  I believe the recipe calls for a ratio of 2:1
water and glycerin. You're supposed to use distilled water, but a friend has used tap water for a year and has had no problems with it. The recipe also calls for denatured alcohol, but I don't think it is necessary, frankly. 

The Dove pens are made to be refillable. 

The Tombow blender can be pulled apart, the core removed and soaked in the
water/glycerin mixture to refill it and the pen put back together. I've not seen a Marvy
blender, but it is probably like the Tombow blender pen. 

Faerie Dust, Pearl-Ex and Powdered Pearls are all pearlized/iridescent pigment/mica powders. RPs (Radiant Pearls) is a paint line. You can use a blender pen with any of the pigment powder lines, and all can be used with different mediums to create paint. I have always loved Pearl-Ex and used it for many years, but I wanted more colors. Hence, Faerie Dust was born. I use the same manufacturer of pigment powders (there are only 2 in the U.S.) as Pearl-Ex and some of the colors in both lines are the same. When I complete the next set of Faerie Dust (to be launched April 1, 2000 hopefully), almost all of the Pearl-Ex colors will be included in the Faerie Dust line. Now the big question is whether to include Mummy in the next set of FD. 

>From Dee, I forgot all about oil pastel crayons and Faerie Dust! I haven't tried this
technique but it sounds like you applied too much of the gold FD over the crayon. When I apply too much FD, I put a little bit of blending gel on a paper towel and wipe the card to remose the excess until the image looks the way I want. I can't stress this enough--always use a very little bit of FD or Pearl-Ex and look at the results before adding more. These powders really go a long way. 


Marya said ........Dee, if I can find my oil pastel crayons (I think I have some
around here), I'll experiment and see what happens with applying different colors over
them. 

Marya's Answer to Dees Q: Dee, turns out I have watercolor crayons and not oil pastel crayons. To simulate oil pastels, I painted an image with the watercolor crayons and blending. By the time I finished the background, the card was almost dry. I then applied Gold Pearl FD with my fingertip and rubbed it all over the card. Because the morning glories were darker than I wanted, I painted blending gel onto each part of the image I wanted lighter and wiped it off with a paper towel. The morning glories image is in the Gallery . I also uploaded the Red & Gold Roses card. This was a card I made last summer, painting on FD with blending gel and rubbing the color onto the background. Because of the textured cardstock, the background is mottled. Today, I
applied Gold Pearl with my fingertip onto the background and applied Gold Pearl to the
roses for highlights. These two images are at the top of the gallery so you don't have to
wait for all the images to load. 

Debs Question: Also, which ones do you suggest starting out with, should I just get them all or what? I suppose if you are going to make new ones you'd do new pallettes too? What do ya suggest? Also, are there some colors that you notice are ordered more than others? Do I need any blending medium or just the Dove blender? I really
want to start slowly as I'm just starting out in stamping anyway but I seem to be buying
everything under the sun so it would be nice to get some of these types of powders to start out with and since you are "our" vendor, thought I'd get what you are putting together.  Besides, you're not the big corporation guy I don't think and I think it's really neat that you are doing this. :)

Faerie Dust can be mixed with any gloss, matte or pearlescent medium, gum arabic or blending gel to make paint. Gum arabic comes in powdered and
liquid form. I don't like messing with mixing gum arabic, so I always use the liquid
form. Many lacquers and adhesives are mediums. Perfect Paper Adhesive comes in matte and gloss versions.  Crystal Lacquer and Dimensional Magic are two gloss mediums and I'm sure there are others that I can't think of the names of right now. My
favorite medium for painting with Faerie Dust is blending gel (and, yes, I sell it--I looked in lots of craft stores and couldn't find any, so I order it in large quantities and repackage it into 1/2-oz and 1-oz jars).  Blending gel has an extended drying time, so it is easy to apply, blend and shade with Faerie Dust. I use so much of it in making cards that I mix it up in little jars with FD. You can also use the flip-off lid from your Faerie Dust set as a mini palette. Dip a paintbrush in the medium of your choice and apply it to the inside of the lid. Dip the paintbrush into the FD (start with a tiny amount of medium and FD) and mix it into the medium. Paint a small amount onto a piece of scrap paper to see if you are happy with your mix. It's better to have the mixture too thin and apply two coats than to have it too thick and obscure the embossed lines of your image. Use the small amount of paint you've mixed and remix as necessary. Many of the images in the Gallery were painted with Faerie Dust and blending gel. The images from the Camellia below the Faerie Castle to the Indian Headdress have descriptions of how they were created. Click on the image to see the full-size image and description. 

Maria's Q: Marya, can you explain what a blending gel does that you talk about? Is it a liquid or powder? Where do you get it?

Blending gel is a liquid medium that has an extended drying time. It is the one I use most for painting with Faerie Dust. I searched in many craft stores here in Seattle and could not find it anywhere, so I order it in large quantities to repackage in 1/2-oz and 1-oz jars. With Deb's encouraging post, I'll post a comm in a sec. Nope, I'm
not a big corporation guy, Deb. LOL I do all the work myself, but the family does help
out--The Hun does all the shipping and running for supplies. And my little Misha puts
on the Faerie Dust lids for me when I can bribe him with $$$. I do suggest getting the
entire set. I've lost track of how many sets of Faerie Dust I've made in the past 15 months, but I do remember that I've had less than 5 orders for individual colors. The set will last you a loooooong time. Two of my wholesalers and I use it almost exclusively for doing our artwork and none of us have gone through a full set in the past year.

I truly think Faerie Dust is one of the most versatile accessories a stamper can have. And the colors are beautiful--I just wish the images on my site looked as good as the original artwork. On April 1,2000 (hopefully), I'll have the new set of Faerie Dust completed. One palette in that set is already done--I'm waiting for supplies for the other two palettes.  Colors in the new palette are: Aztec Gold, Apple Green, Iridescent Silver, Interference Moss, Interference Teal, Blue Russet, Sparkle Russet, Duo-Tone Green-Blue, Deep Teal, Iridescent Brass, Majestic Gold, Crimson Gold, and Goldenrod.  The remaining two palettes in the new set will include all the sparkle
metallics and antique iridescent metallics, Deep Magenta, Brick, Shimmer Pewter (nope, no Mummy), Iris, Marigold and others.

My dream is to do a video this year. Marya

DOD Faierie Dust ---More..........compiled
29 Sept 2000---by Marsha
# posts 3

Fairie Dust are pearlized, iridescent, and interference powdered pigments. They add sheen and shimmer to cards and other crafts. They come in a variety of shades. Fairie Dust is sold in sets of color. There is a gold set and a silver set.  Each set has 3 pallets of color. My personal favorite is the gold set because of the colors it contains.

There are a number of different techniques you can use with Fairie Dust (which I am going to call FD). 

My favorite is using the FD over pigment ink. The best color to use is white, because it gives an even background for the pigment powder to show up on. You brush FD over an image stamped with the pigment ink. Do this with a makeup brush or a paintbrush. You pick up some powder with your paintbrush and brush it over the pigment ink. The FD sticks to the ink. Then brush the excess away. The darker the
cardstock, the better this shows up is what I have found. If you use a light colored cardstock, you get a "halo" type effect. It takes a little getting used to, but the results are
worthwhile. You do have to seal the image afterwards with a fixative or spray sealer. I use hair spray.There are other ways to use FD as well. (Please see part 1).

Another method --of using FD is to take dark cardstock, stamp your image with bleach instead of ink, and color in using the FD. You pick up the powder with a blending pen and color in your image. It creates a beautiful, shimmery card.  You will need to seal this one as well.

A third method -- is to blend the FD with a number of different products, such as, gloss medium, liquid gum Arabic, or blending gel. This makes the FD into a "paint." I haven't tried this, so I don't know much about it. You can color a card with brush markers. Use a sponge applicator, or your fingertips and rub FD over the colored image. For example, color in a rose with red marker and pick up some red FD and
rub it over the rose to highlight different areas. This gives the rose a beautiful
shimmer and makes it look somewhat real. A blender pen works well with this technique also.

The last two ways I will explain for Fairie Dust are:

Backgrounds: the FD colors blend together easily. You can pick up different colors with your fingertip and just "smear" them across your cardstock.  Then stamp and emboss an image over top of the FD. You can dot different colors of FD on your paper and then blend them together for a "mottled" look. The best thing to do is experiment with it.

Finally, you can add shimmer and shine to your embossing powders. Mix a 1/4 tsp. or less of FD with 1 tsp. of clear EP. You can mix smaller amounts, but keep the ratios the same.  For example, mix an interference color over black pigment ink
and you get a great result. Take Scarab Red (which is a duo color, which is a mixture of burgundy and teal) and mix it with clear EP. If you do this over black pigment ink, it
leaves a soft black image with a touch of burgundy. But, turn the card slightly and you will see dark teal.