Peek at Pébéo

I'm blog hopping today (Challenge of Travel) and waiting for the Pébéo Fantasy paints to cure fully before taking photos, but I just had to post a little sneak peek of my first try at these paints.

This is what you can see on my worktable right now, hidden under a plate to dust, paws and fingers from the drying paint. A couple of the first test pieces failed miserably as I didn't adhere to the instructions well enough (flat, horizontal surfaces really means flat, horizontal surfaces, not somewhat horizontal and mix well doesn't just mean shake the bottle), but the good thing is that the paints have such pretty colours even failed pieces look nice and usable.

As with all effect paints there's a little learning curve and you need to read -- and follow -- the instructions in order to succeed, but it's such fun paints to play with that it's well worth it! I got back down to the bead room more than once because I just had to make one more. And then, later, I went back several times just to look at the paint. It's like the paint's alive, it grows and moves and you can't be really sure what the finished result will look like. It might just be my bad newbie technique, but when mixing colours the final result is always different from how I envisioned it. In a good way, a very good way.

 

Be warned, though: painting a piece goes fast -- especially if combining colours as you have to do it right away to avoid the amalgamated effect seen in the bracelet -- but the paint dries slooowly (and hardens fully first after 72 hours) and it's easy to be tempted to pick up the piece and look at it before it's dry. Don't! I did, fumbled and put my thumb in the copper bezel on the left... Nothing to do, but wipe it clean and do it all over again... Lesson learned -- admire them on the table the first and do not touch until after at least 6 hours (2 hours for Moon and 6 for Prisme to dry on the surface according to Pébéo, others say 24 hours), but preferably more just to be on the safe side. 12-24 hours before touching the paint surface is probably a good rule of thumb.

But this isn't the post for paint tips. Stay tuned for a more in depth look at my first experiments and what I learned from it!