Faux Dichroic Glass Pendants (Fimo) By Lisa Pavelka on Fiskars TV

That was a great video and it looks like a place to learn more new things. Yesterday I ran a cross some free tutorials at Fire Mountain Beads. I am getting more skilled at making beads but they ll seem to end up with a hole through the middle and I had no idea how to make a decent looking wire wrap to hang them differently; there are several tutorials at this site. Judy Belcher has some tutOrials usIng Kato clay we can still get our clay fix.

Thanks for that post and link Cindy! Videos are great!

I watched that video yesterday! :)

OK I will try that, I tried to make some last year with clay, silver leaf and TLS and it was not a good thing;-)
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I, too, had bad luck. I used silver foil on black clay and dabbed on Ranger's ink in three colors. It was beautiful – for about 5 minutes – and then the alcohol evaporated and took the color away. The project called for using alcohol based acrylic paint and I have been unable to find it – the art stores act like they've never heard of this type of paint. Any brand suggestions?

I watched Lisa's video and one thing was puzzling to me. The packing tape. I would think the packing tape would take off the color of the foil. I'll have to go back and watch it more carefully. I must have missed a small point. I love the foil and this was especially interesting to me.

I also still don't understand what the packing tape does…

@Anna: Yeah Fiskars usually shows scrapbooking stuff so it was fun to see polymer clay on there!

@Tina: You're welcome! I would have to agree, videos are great!

@Lindsay: What went wrong?

@Maria: I don't get why the color from the alcohol ink disappeared. I have never had that happen before! Also I have never heard of alcohol based paint. I'm afraid you've got me stumped! Maybe someone else knows the answer?

@Freda: Since the foil covered clay was pressed into an texture plate it was only the raised designs that were removed by the packing tape. All the cool foil color stays in the crevices with the design the original clay color up on top. Very cool technique!

I got the instructions for the dichroic beads from one of my favorite books – Carol Blackburn's "Making Polymer Clay Beads", pg. 52. Materials list states "acrylic/spirit-based paints". These beads look really cool in the book.

I had the opportunity to take a workshop with Lisa Pavelka in Toronto last fall where I learned her faux dichroic technique. It was a great class and here is a link to a picture of the bracelet I made: gencreations.blogspot.com/2008/12/creativ-festival.html

@Maria: I looked up the product you're talking about on Google and found out there is indeed a spirit based acrylic paint. Golden, a brand of artist's paints makes what's called MSA Colors (Mineral Spirit-borne Acrylic Color) They are for Professional Use Only because of the hazards in using them. Why not try regular acrylic paints or oil paints and see which one works for you instead? I'd have to see the technique to be able to recommend which one to use.

@Genevieve: Oh your bracelet is beautiful Genevieve! What a lucky girl to have been able to take a class from Lisa in person! I see you have taken a class with Donna Kato as well! How wonderful! It's nice to meet you here and see your blog. Now I will have to drop by there every once and awhile for a visit! Thanks for commenting!

Thanks Cindy… strange that the author specified those paints. Will try your suggestions…:)

That's a great video, Cindy! I will have to make time to try it for sure!

@ Maria – Carol B isn't saying you have to use spirit based acrylic paint – the ordinary sort works very well – but don't try and put a thick coat on to start with; build up thin coats, letting them dry between. Better luck next time!

Caroline thanks for your comment! Maria actually ended up contacting Carol and she said it was acrylic paint or alcohol inks that could be used. I thought it was really nice of Carol to email her back and clarify that.

Caroline – sorry it's taken so long to respond, but I do want to thank you for your suggestions! Happy claying!

Hi Cindy. Searching on the Internet, I have seen a lot of beads made from something called faux dichroic glass. (I hope I spelled that right.) I hope we could have a tutorial on that one day.

@Jill Van Der Meij: You spelled it right Jill. It is something that I have thought of doing. Would like to come up with my own spin on it though. Will put it on the list!

@Jill Van Der Meij: Hi Jill. While you're waiting for the video, I was wondering if you've thought about playing around with metal leaf & foils? You can get some really cool looks with them. If you put a nice gloss on top, it can look a bit like dichroic glass. There's an example of that in this article, where a member used one of Cindy's tutorials to make some pendants using crackled gold leaf And alcohol inks. You can see the orig. technique by following the 1st link in the article.

If you use foils, like "Jones Tones" instead, they come in different colors and give a different effect. You burnish the foils onto the clay, putting little splashes of metallic color wherever you want. Cindy has some videos on how to use these foils, as well as gold & silver leaf. If you use resin, instead of a regular finish, it makes it look even more like dichroic glass. I haven't tried resin myself yet, though. I'm waiting for Cindy to come out with a video. She's had lots of requests for it, so maybe one will be coming up soon. Then, perhaps the Faux Dichroic will follow soon after! (now that you've got it on her list…)

Phaedrakat, thank you! I will try some Jones Tones foils. My Michaels doesn't carry them, but I will order online. I know that a faux dichroic glass tute from Cindy would be AMAZING!! Until then, I'll experiment. @Phaedrakat: