The 12 Brands Of Christmas - Brand #4 Prima

O.M.Goodness!! Where do I start? Well most of you that follow me know that I just adore Prima and all their goodies, but earlier this year Finnabair brought out a line of mediums as well as other brilliant extras, and boy, as a fan of mixed media I was just in heaven!! So, for this review I will focus mainly on those products. I have gone for a bulleted list as I figure that is easier to digest as otherwise there would be a lot to take in, so without further ado, here we go:

• Art Basics Gesso

A staple for anyone getting into mixed media. Both the black and the white are just perfect, they provide excellent tooth for the paint to grab. They are heavier so can be used to help add texture too, but can be watered down for thinner coverage or 'knocking back'. Both are great for splatters too :)

• Art Extravagance Crackle

I have the White and Copper ones and it does exactly what it says on the tin! It provides some of the best crackle out there and I have a few other brands of crackle!! I would never trade this for another! I have found that allowing crackles to dry naturally produces the best bigger crackle effect, whilst heat tooling creates ‘fine china’ style crackle.

• Art Extravagance Sand

What is more perfect for adding texture?!! The sand is great, and little tip, the black is the thickest, chunkiest of all the sands (perfect for us texture lovers) and is held in a gloss like gel. So, handy to get a cover of gesso over if you want to add colour after. I have found this kind of texture allows some of the most spell binding flow of colour movement in amongst the particles, especially if using powders and sprays to push it around.

• Art Basics Gel

My goodness, this stuff has so many wonderful properties... I love both the versions, 3D and Soft Matte. The 3D, is great for running through a stencil and creating that bumpy resist. You can also add powders to these and the colours just GLOW, mix with some glitter too and you have some truly spectacular effects! The gels also act as a perfect adhesive, the Soft Matte for thinner papers, cardstock and the 3D for chunky heavy embellishments.

• Art Basics Pastes

Out of the two pastes I have, modelling and light, I can’t say I have noticed a huge difference, but what I have found is they are perfect for stencils or creating that rough background look. Unlike other pastes, they are very unlucky to bleed through under a stencil, only time I have known this is if you add more liquid but you would need to add a lot. Colours mix beautifully in them as well as the other fantabulous extras in the Finnabar line, like Glass Beads, Micro Beads and Glass Glitter. The other thing about the pastes is that once dried they with take colour well that is applied to them.

• Art Ingredients Glitter Glass

Now, where do I start with these… I own most of them (yeah I have glitter addiction issues). I use them in my projects but probably most of the time I am just staring at them, stroking the pots and afraid to use up their sparkly goodness -anyone else as crazy??? :) I do honestly love these, the chunky glitter is just magical and can be put into any media with great effect. The colour range is amazing, but what I would say is, and not necessarily a negative point, but some of the colours will bleed into the medium. I noticed this with the Violet, but the awesome looking pinky coloured gel looked super cool!

• Art Ingredients Glitter

These awesome boxes filled with a sparkling promise of hope just call to you... or they do to me. Like the Glass Glitters, I just stare at them and hesitate to open the box for spoiling the mesmerising trance they put me into lol. Again they they can be put into the pastes and gels, but my favourite method is to apply the 3D gel through a stencil and then sprinkle on top. This creates the most sparkle in a very organised pattern :) Just tap off the excess after the gel is dry, but with this method allow yourself some time, as air drying is best.

• Art Ingredients Sugar Glitter

Prefer the delicate touch of sparkle? This works in the same way as the other two glitters but is far more subtle but just as magical. 

• Art Ingredients Glass Beads/Flakes/Micro Beads

When a project is close to being finished these little touches can just help take your work that step further! Again, a great choice of colours with recent new releases. For me, I love adding to the centre of flowers, mixed media clusters or for helping to add a little extra texture on the top of piece. Works like the others with the pastes and gels

• Art Ingredients Mica Powder

Now, this is something very special! The shimmer is just jaw-dropping, out of this world, crazy good! The colours are awesome and appear to only be growing in the range and they are designed to be used in amongst the above mentioned gels and pastes. The pastes will knock them back a little in the sense on making them paler and the gels really make them pop! I love how versatile they are and how you can create some lovely random effects (sprinkle powder on a project and just mist) to detailed colouring (water brush has worked best for me here). The shimmer these have really do not detract from the intensity of the colour and once dry on your project create that sense of magic, which obviously, Finnabar is famous for in her work!

And I have a confession... I never used to be one who was into glitters and shimmers or anything that was remotely sparkly - I bet that sounds surprising after reading the above huh?!! But I have done a complete 180 over the last year and seeing the gorgeous work of those I follow really inspired me to try. Now I’m totally converted, and using glitter with mediums is what really changed my view, as it enabled almost total control and to be able to use it in many different ways.

Hope you have enjoyed today’s product review, do let me know if you have any questions on the above and I will be happy to answer them.

Hugs

Georgie