Use It Up

As you've all noticed by now, I'm somewhat obsessive about making the most of what I've got - it's hard for me to throw stuff away! I was in the mood recently to play around with Radiant Pearls. I've had these for ages - I don't think they're available anymore in stores, although I did see some on Ebay.

My favorite use for RPs is making backgrounds. The consistency is somewhat like light bodied acrylic paint, but they're very sheer.
They blend beautifully, and dry with a pearly sheen. When I'm working with them, I always keep a blank piece of paper nearby to "clean" my brush. (Again, trying to stretch everything as far as I can.)

Anyway, I discovered that one of the colors, Tiger Eye, had separated badly. Of course I didn't want it to go to waste, so I managed to stir it well enough with a toothpick (shaking well is usually sufficient) so that it could be used. While I had it in this state, I wanted to try to use the whole jar. I began playing around, and found that it tinted patterned papers so that they loooked somewhat aged. The first two photos show a side by side comparison, with the original paper on the right, and the doctored paper on the left. Eventually I managed to play around enough to use up that jar.

The next photo shows a paper that has a raised design of flowers. The original was white. I brushed on a variety of colors, but it still looked a little flat. I got out an ink pad, and rubbed it over the raised surface, and it looked much nicer.

The last photo shows one of my blank pieces that I use to get the last bit of RP out of my brush. I also place this paper under whatever I'm working on, so that as I work on the edges of the top sheet, any excess goes onto the paper underneath. Eventually, it gets all filled up, and I've got another background sheet to use.

Maybe I need to get on Ebay and buy up some more!
Immi