Polymer Clay Tutorial | Jones Tones Foil and Mona Lisa Gold Leaf

Understanding The Differences Between Metal Foils and Metal Leafs:

Would you like to add the sparkle of metal leaf or metal foil to your polymer clay beads… but are not sure of how to use these unique products? Well this article will help to point you in the right direction.

Metal Leaf:

Metal leaf is a product made with real metals rolled into very thin sheets, about the thickness of tissue paper. Traditionally, metal leaf was made from actual gold and applied with adhesive to ornate frames in a process called gilding.

Pure gold or silver leaf is cost prohibitive for most crafting or polymer clay projects. However there are a few companies manufacturing imitation metal leaf that looks very much like the real thing, and at a reasonable cost.

These companies use metal alloys that simulate the more precious metals. For example aluminum is used instead of silver to bring the price down considerably!

The imitation metal leafs I have used, come from a company called Mona Lisa Products. When I bought the variegated red gold leaf it was in a kit with some adhesive, antiquing solution and sealer, for about $20. The kit included 6 sheets of metal leaf.

Doing a quick search on Amazon, I found the Variegated Gold Leaf – Red 6 leaves (5.5" x 5.5") per pack with out the extra stuff for $5.99 which is a better deal, since you don't need the adhesive and sealer supplies for your polymer clay projects.

Metal Foil:

Metal foils such as Jones Tones Foils are a completely different product. They are plastic based rather than metal based. The shiny foil is attached to a clear plastic backing sheet which gets removed after burnishing the foil onto your polymer clay.

It is normally used with an adhesive when used in other crafts. But with polymer clay, the adhesive is unnecessary. It does however, need to be rubbed or burnished onto the clay in order to stick. Metal foils are cheaper than the metal leaf, and they come in a number of varieties such as: Variegated; Rainbow; Holographic; Glitter; and Solid Metal Tones.

A Jones Tones Foils 4 Color Set in 6" x 12" sheets, sells for $5.59 at Amazon. This is approximately half the price of the metal leaf product, based on the amount of metal foil you get in the package.

Crackle Effects:

After adding metal leaf OR metal foil to a conditioned sheet of polymer clay, you can create a crackled effect by rolling the polymer clay sheet even thinner. The crackling lets some of the background clay color show through for a very cool look.

Metal leaf, since it is less flexible than the foil, will crackle with larger patterns. Whereas the metal foil cracks are much finer. Both look great, depending on the look you want.

I have created a couple of tutorial videos on the differences between metal leaf and metal foil products… and how to use them to make beautiful polymer clay beads. Check out Volume-004 at the Polymer Clay Tutor Members Library. The specific titles in the Volume-004 order form are referenced as:

• Vid-004-1 Differences Between Metal Leaf and Foils
• Vid-004-2 How To Apply Metal Leaf and Metal Foils

Included with thess Metal Leaf and Metal Foil tutorials are 3 other related videos plus 5 custom color recipe cards:

• Vid-004-1 Differences Between Metal Leaf and Foils
• Vid-004-2 How To Apply Metal Leaf and Metal Foils
• Vid-004-3 Intro To The Dremel Tool For Polymer Clay
• Vid-004-4 Using a Dremel Tool For Buffing Fimo Beads
• Vid-004-5 Plastic Embroidery Boxes For Storing Canes
• Recipe-004-1A Mosaic Tile
• Recipe-004-2A Coral
• Recipe-004-3A Olive Green
  
• Recipe-004-4A Deep Bordeaux
• Recipe-004-5A Translucent Copper

If you would like to first see preview clips of the Vid-004-1 and Vid-004-2 Metal Leaf and Metal Foil tutorial videos, you can do follow these links:

• Gold Leaf Polymer Clay versus Gold Foil – What's the Difference
• Jones Tones Foils, Mona Lisa Metal Leaf and Polymer Clay Beads
  

Thank you Cindy for the lesson of foil on clay. Very interesting. Can't wait to try it. ~Pat

Thanks for all the good information- I've had trouble trying to get jones foils to adhere- will now give it another "shot". Keep up the good work. ~JJ

Cindy, Thanks for the tutorials. I have only used the leaf so the other foils was good to know. ~Linda

Oh wow how cool! This was a really neat video! I for one prefer the look of the metal leaf to the Jones Tones so this was a good money saving point for me! :) ~Keri Lee

Dear Cindy: I have found all your videos to be very helpful. Your presentations are clear and you are pleasing to listen to. Thanks for helping us out with sharing your knowledge. Keep up the good work! Bless you! ~Zoe