The Divas And Their Stories......

Well, you get a bunch of show-offs together and you know what is going to happen.....*sigh*
These are four gels I have that, quite frankly, are unique and really cannot be duplicated. I will start on the far right with the Large Gold Mica Flake.
It is exactly what it says; large, gold, flake.
A little goes a long way. In fact, I usually reduce it some with extra soft gloss gel, so there is not as much of the gold. It will spice up any mixed media, but use in small quantities. I can think of nothing that would look like this to add to a regular gel. Put it on your wish list.
Next to Goldie, we have Pearl. Pearl is much easier to deal with and an easy going personality. In fact, Pearl likes to go everywhere before you know it. It is an extremely soft gel, and is densely pigmented with very fine pearl flake. You'll love Pearl, but you'll love her better in small quantities...if you know what I mean! *ahem*
Our next candidate for Diva is the Clear Tar Gel. And honestly, the *tar* part is more accurate than *gel*. It is a bit like molasses in January in texture; it will pour, can be colored with paint (the actual dilution ratios are always on the containers) and makes a killer coloring for the inside of glass things, like tiny glass bottles. Add some blue, stir, coax into the little bottle, swirl around and when it dries, you have what looks like cobalt glass. Or pour in something as simple as a shell, and when dry, you have *water*. Amazing..... *CTG* is a straight shooter, just give her time to dry. A lot of time and low humidity! (I mean, humidity makes us all a little flustered, fuzzy and frizzy, right?)
And now, the Diva of Diva's; Crackle Paste. You cannot---I repeat---CAN NOT make this medium do anything other than what it is made to do and that is crackle, on it's own, with NO HELP in drying, and nominal humidity while in drying process. It is temperamental, demanding, must be sealed to stabilize, can be colored to a certain extent, but not as much as some of the others......so why should you buy this?
Because a beautifully finished crackled piece cannot be beat for pure age and texture. It is the crazed finish on you grandmother's china, it is the worn stucco on old buildings, it is plaster in the process of neglect. It is just plain amazing.
Be brave and submit yourself and your art to this demanding Diva. She is worth it. Bow low and read her instructions and prepare to be dazzled.
In all seriousness, it has taken me time to acquire the four above due to cost. If you want to try one, get the smallest container made, give it a whirl or if you have a friend who lives close and wants to split the cost, go that way. Don't be frivilous  with these; they're just too expensive to use once or twice and then set aside with the possibility of drying from not being used.
One tip; keep that inner foam seal that you have to pull off when they are new. Pop that in the top of the lid and that helps immensely in keeping them fresh.
Petroleum jelly, on the top of the bottle will make the lids easy to remove.
Keep dirty brushes or wet items out of the gels as that can affect the longevity of the product.
But use them.
And visit Golden's website for tons and tons of information on their absolutely amazing product line.
And no, they're not paying me to say that. (I wish they were....it's more like the other way around.....LOL!)
Thanks for following this along. Tomorrow I will post the one finished piece from the test samples, and you can see the possibilities.
Hey.....get gellin'!!!

Pax....