Many artists use pigment powder or mica pigment powder to add some color and shimmer to every piece they make in the creative world. The best advantage of mica pigment powder is that it works great for any art you can imagine.
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Consider buying mica pigment powder as you look for the best artistic items to purchase. In this article, we&#;ll dive into what mica and pigment powder are, common uses for these products, and more!
As we explore everything you need to know about pigment powder, let&#;s begin by discussing the difference between mica and pigment powder, as it can be easy to confuse the two.
Interestingly, mica powder is a natural substance that comes from ground stone, so it is very fine in texture. Many use mica powder to add some sparkle to their art project. Whether they&#;re into woodworking, jewelry making, or other DIY crafts, many artists gravitate towards this medium since there are no creative limits.
Mica powder is also safe to use on all skin types, so you don&#;t have to worry about narrowing your search as you shop for an FDA-approved product if you make skincare products.
Eye Candy Pigments is a mica powder supplier that sells various options in a wide arrange of hues. Plus, we&#;ve got pearl pigments that&#;ll add the translucent effect you&#;re looking for in a product.
Unlike mica, pigment powder has a chalky texture and appears matte. Often, pigment powder makes a good base when you want to add color to your art. Additionally, pigment powders have a lot of pigment, making them great for creating makeup and other crafts. Unlike mica, pigment is not something we mine for, and instead something we have to make. This high-quality powder takes your art projects to the next level!
Most artists use mica powder or blend it with pigment powder. Some recommend using both mica and pigment powder for the best results, since you&#;ll get that blast of color, plus some added shine. For example, if you were painting a resin model, you should use pigment powders for a base, as well as apply the corresponding mica powders on top to add some shimmer.
Pigment powder is versatile, as hobbyists across the board can use it to improve or add a splash of color to whatever they create. It works great in eyeshadow pallets, especially if you want to make a dramatic color.
Mica pigment powder is also incredibly versatile, and you won&#;t have to worry about it drying out. So, if you&#;re an avid painter and need a collection of colors, it&#;d be better to invest in pigment. Plus, this saves you money in the long run, since the powder will never expire.
If you make soap, bath bombs, or lotion, then consider adding some pigment and shimmer with a mica color pigment. Keep in mind that there is a difference between using pigment powder and mica powder, specifically for bath and skincare products.
If you create and sell bars of soap, you can sprinkle in a bit of mica pigment. This makes your product even more eye-catching by adding shine and some beautiful colors.
Some use pigment to create cosmetics, and others use a mica-pigment blend to add color and shimmer&#;two must-haves in cosmetics. When it comes to cosmetics, many use pigments to create products such as:
Make your makeup line appear even more professional with pigment powder to keep it packed with color.
It&#;s best to use colorful mica powder when creating makeup products, since it won&#;t cause skin irritation. If the product is a pigment powder mixed with mica, ensure that it&#;s FDA-approved prior to use.
Many also use pigment powders for tinting or adding some depth to resin. If you add mica to a piece, remember to use the appropriate amount to ensure your piece turns out well. This means using more for thinner pieces to fully get that translucent look.
Some artists also use mica and pigment powders to add to their woodworking masterpieces, making home décor even more unique. Many mix the powder with lacquer or topcoat, and then paint it on the wood.
Since pigment powder is a dry substance, the way you use it depends on what you plan to make. If you don&#;t plan to use the pigment as a powder, you&#;ll have to mix it with a medium. Some common mediums include:
Keep in mind that the way you use pigments may differ depending on the type of use. Those applying pigment to a manicure will dip the brush in the powder, then apply it to a gel topcoat and apply heat before applying the final clearcoat. On the other hand, if you make resin jewelry, you&#;ll pour the appropriate powder ratio into your resin for the best effects.
If you&#;re new to using mica and pigment powder with resin, then consider dusting the molds with your powder rather than mixing it into the powder. This creates a unique look, and you won&#;t have to worry about pouring too much powder into your resin. After all, art is all about experimentation!
Now that you&#;ve discovered everything you need to know about pigment powder and how it differs from mica powder, it&#;s time to stock up on some product. Eye Candy Pigments sells mica pigment powder that&#;s perfect for candle making, soap colorant, and so much more! Plus, our product is non-toxic and cruelty-free, so every type of artist can use it to elevate their work.
Browse our many options, including soft shimmers, bold metallics, glitters, and so much more. At Eye Candy Pigments, we know how important finding the right hue of each color is, and that&#;s why we value offering customers a wide selection. There&#;s never been a better time to take your artwork to the next level!
Mica powder is currently very trendy. And when something becomes so popular, two things happen. First, market innovation brings new products. And second, so much buzz about a product means that misinformation proliferates, making it quite difficult to learn how to effectively use the product. Mica powder has been around for a long time. But in the past few years, as the trends for DIY crafts have really taken off, mica powder is suddenly &#;a thing&#;. You can use mica powder with resin, soap, makeup, nail arts, painting, paper arts, and much more. But since I write this website about polymer clay, that&#;s what I&#;m going to focus on here.
Contact us to discuss your requirements of Mica Powder for Building. Our experienced sales team can help you identify the options that best suit your needs.
These succulent pots were made with polymer clay and coated with Pearl Ex mica powder. On the left is Knox Gold and the right is Hot Copper.Mica is a shiny mineral that&#;s mined from the earth. If you&#;ve ever found a sparkly rock, there&#;s a good chance that it contains mica, especially if it can be peeled apart in thin sheets. This mica is ground into tiny flakes and colored to make sparkly powder. Originally all mica came from the ground, but nowadays there is also synthetic mica that is made from ultra-thin sheets of lab-created glass-like mineral. Even though mica powder is pearlescent, it is not made from crushed pearls or oyster shells. It is also not made from metal or plastic and should not be confused with glitter. Mica powder comes in a variety of flake sizes and the larger the particle size, the more sparkly it is. Very large flakes of mica can very much appear like glitter but are irregular in shape, not punched out of a plastic sheet the way glitter is.
Mica flakes are coated with metal oxides and/or pigments to give them color. This means that you can buy mica powders in a huge array of sparkly, shimmery colors. Mica powders are not, however, the same thing as pigments. Contrary to the confusion that poorly worded online listings have caused, mica powder and pigments are not the same things. You can read my article here to readily see the difference and why that matters when using them with polymer clay.
Because mica powders reflect the light, the flakes can be coated in such a way to make the light bounce back in multiple colors. This makes duo, interference, and color-shifting mica powders. (For comprehensive coverage of this topic, plus info about pigments, metal powders, and dye powders, check out my Guide to Using Powders on Polymer Clay.)
These Mica Leaf Pendants were made using real leaves and mica powder. The tutorial is available here.Mica powders are added to polymer clay to make your favorite pearl and metallic colors. You can also buy mica powders and apply them to the surface of your project. Since raw polymer clay is naturally slightly sticky, mica powders stick readily to the surface. Mica powders will not stick to the surface of baked clay, so you&#;ll need to mix them with your favorite varnish or clearcoat to make a &#;paint&#;.
On raw polymer clay, mica powders can be applied with a finger and smoothed (burnished) flat to enhance their shine. Or they can be applied more precisely with a soft, dry paintbrush. For even more precise application, try wetting your brush. Clean your brush as usual, with soap and water.
These polymer clay earrings are decorated with mica and mica crackle effects. (Love these earring shapes? Get the Contemporary Earring Course and Shape Templates here.)There is a huge variety of polymer clay techniques that use mica powders to add shine or sparkle in a controlled manner. You could apply them through a silkscreen. Or you could apply the mica powder to a texture sheet or stamp that is then pressed into a sheet of raw polymer clay. I&#;m particularly fond of using them in crackle effects, which are covered extensively in my Crackle Compendium exploration guide.
Mica powders applied to raw polymer clay stick very well and do not need to be sealed unless they will be handled. Thick applications of the powder can lie on the surface and make you assume it&#;s brushing off. No, this is excess mica powder that is not attached. Clear coats will, however, give additional protection and even enhance the brilliance of the sparkle. Be very careful using a gloss spray varnish. Most are not compatible with polymer clay and will never dry, ruining your project. Instead, use a very light-bodied sealer such as Swellegant Sealer or Final Coat. I also like Pledge Floor Care (known by many names including Future and Johnson&#;s Klear). You can learn more about these clearcoats in my articles on sealers here, here, and here.
Mica powder is non-toxic. It does not cause cancer. It does not contain asbestos and does not cause lung fibrosis with casual exposure. You do not need to wear a mask while applying mica powders to a project. This is the same material that is in eye shadow, blush, and face powder, after all. But please remember that you should never breathe any particles (of anything) if you can help it. Take care to minimize the amount that &#;floofs&#; up, and if you&#;re going to make a big cloud or if you are repackaging them, (or work with them occupationally), you should wear an N95 mask.
Don&#;t be intimidated by those little jars and packets of colorful powders. Learn to use them effectively in your projects.
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There&#;s one more thing I should mention about mica powders, and that&#;s translucency. Some of them have high coverage and you cannot see the color of the polymer clay underneath. Others are very sheer and have poor coverage. Sheer colors will look very different on a light base than they do on a dark one. In addition, duo and interference colors show up VERY different on a dark vs a light base. Because I got frustrated knowing which jar of Pearl Ex to grab, made a color chart with all 54 colors, and hung it on my wall. I have made the file available for download (for free) here so you can get it printed and have one, too. The page also has an interactive Pearl Ex comparison tool so you can pick the colors you&#;d like to see side-by-side.
Well-known craft product manufacturers such as Ranger and Jacquard have their own dedicated lines of quality mica powders that come in a huge range of colors. Ranger makes a powder called Perfect Pearls and Jacquard makes a line of mica powders called Pearl Ex.
Perfect Pearls contains gum arabic so that you can wet it to make a paint. But the gum arabic causes the Perfect Pearls to be gritty and can make it hard to smooth the powder onto raw polymer clay neatly. Contrary to a (very) popular misunderstanding, Perfect Pearls do not contain a &#;resin&#; that allows them to bond better during baking. All mica powder bonds well to polymer clay during baking. Gum arabic does not enhance this effect.
Because of the grittiness in Perfect Pearls, I prefer using Jacquard Pearl Ex with polymer clay. In addition, Pearl Ex has many more colors in its range, including duo and interference colors (54 in total). On July 1, , Jacquard released 5 new colors of Pearl Ex. You can read about them and see them being used here.
Because mica powders are wildly popular at the moment, and because it&#;s easy to buy them in bulk from China, there are thousands upon thousands of small businesses selling mica powders. They&#;re often packaged in sets of colors sold in tiny baggies or vials. These sets are a great way to get a large number of colors cheaply. Be aware, however, that if you need a specific color for an ongoing project, the colors are not usually labelled accurately or become unavailable. (I have several colors of nail powders that I can&#;t get more of, much to my dismay.)
In addition, mica powders are often sold as &#;pigment, dye, mica powder&#; or other such words in the listing title. This &#;keyword stuffing&#; is misleading and it also means that you aren&#;t going to be sure if you&#;re getting pigments, mica powders, or mixtures. (They won&#;t be dyes, btw. Dyes are very different.)
In addition to the named colors of Perfect Pearls and Jacquard, you can also buy mica powders from cosmetic suppliers. I like Brambleberry because they give a lot of information about each one, making your choice easy (or harder due to the choices)!
You will LOVE getting this , which is packed full of polymer clay goodness. About once or twice a month.
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