Iced Enamels with Polymer

by Staci Louise Smith

Karen McGovern did a post on playing with the new Iced Enamels by Susan Lenhart Kazmer.  They are a cold "enamel" system, using some sort of embossing powders with resin to seal them.

Of course, I thought right away, how can I use them on polymer?

Though I really did plan to use them on metal as well.  

I could not wait for them to arrive.  Of course I tried them on polymer clay before metal, of COURSE I did.  Though I did metal as a quick second.

First I followed the instructions, Susan has a nice little video here, but I didn't like the look of the globbed on "enamel".  I wanted a crusty look, both on my metal and polymer.  Something more gritty.

Here is the "globbing" or applying a thick full layer of power on polymer (on the area's I wanted anyhow)

Here is what my first tries on metal looked, like

I mean, I don't NOT like it, but I was not thrilled

So, I kept playing......

For this black polymer donut, I used the German silver and I really bubbled nicely, and gave me a sort of raku'ish look I liked.  However, it just wiped off the polymer, so I used resin to seal it on.  I only put the resin over the "enamel" and a tiny bit over the edges, because I wanted the matte look of my black to remain.  I like it a lot, and now it doesn't come off.

So then I tried to over my already based coat painted polymer, and then put my crackle layer over top. (the donut has stripey circles painted on in the faux 'namel and the pink bead has one stripe at the top)

LOVE these.  Love them so much.  It is exactly what I was going for.  

The crackle layer was enough to seal it on (plus of course the actual sealer I use on top of that).  I didn't need to use any resin on these at all and they are soooo cool.  I love the texture it adds to the pieces.

My painting and crackle tutorial is available here for purchase.  Though it does not include how to use the iced enamels, it does tell you how to layer paints, alcohol inks and use a great crackle that works wonderful with polymer and doesn't take forever to achieve a great aged look.

Another polymer artist, Tammy at Paisley Lizard,  was playing with them as well.  Here is a link to her post. 

http://www.paisleylizard.com/2015/06/using-iced-enamels-with-polymer-clay/
 I loved that she mixed the powder in with the translucent.  Though it may not have given her the look she was going for, it sure did make some pretty beads.  Since I just bought a bunch of translucent to play with, this is on my list to try.  I have mixed other things into translucent and loved how it looked, but the iced enamels were pretty awesome too!  Instead of having to add color and something with particles, like chalks and mica, it is all in one for you!!!

I ended up making some metal pieces I liked as well with the Iced Enamels.  I liked them very much, but they needed the resin to really seal them well.  However, it was soooooo shiny, it not only didn't look like enamel, it was just distracting.

So I sprayed them with some matte sealer....and that made them funky, and matte, and turned the clear resin milky looking in spots.

So I think next time I will use a satin finish over the resin, so its not so shiny.  Anyhow, I don't hate them, and I am having a blast!

I can definitely see me using these........which is nice, because I can sometimes jump into things and then not end up finding a use for them in my work!

Anyone else use these?  What are your thoughts?  Your results?  Feel free to share your pictures of what you did with Iced Enamels on our Facebook feed in the comments.