Wednesday, February 05, 2014

Further Adventures in Nail Polish

As a follow up to my further adventures in applying nail polish to metal, I have a few more pieces to share.  After more diligent searching both on-line and to surrounding hardward stores, I finally was able to get my hands on some steel wool (and a fire brick, but more about that in a future post).  It's ridiculous how hard it was to find.  Even the S.O.S. scrubbing pads were out of stock!
 
I had much better results in buffing up the metal using the steel wool and a heavier grit foam sand paper "block" that I found on one of my hardware store excursions.
 
 
 
 
I was going for sort of an Egyptian faience color scheme here (lapis, turquoise and carnelian) and though the colors didn't turn out quite how I originally envisioned, I'm still loving the results.  It almost looks like cloisonne!  However, now that I can see this detailed photo, I can tell that the bottom section needs more polishing as I missed a few areas.  My up-close eyesight is REALLY getting bad.  Looks like I need to have my prescription adjusted...AGAIN.  Sigh.  Getting old sucks!
 
  
 
 
I had to try an obnoxiously bright color scheme, too, and I think I prefer it!  Those cheap, transparent nail polish colors really work the best for this technique.  A tiny bit more clean up and polishing on both pairs to fix what my crappy eyesight mixed, and these are ready to be wired up into some truly fabulous earrings.  In fact, I like them so much, I'm even tempted to maybe keep the first pair for myself!
 
Of course, this means I need...more brass blanks AND...more nail polish!  Wheeee!!!!
 
KJ

 

2 comments:

TesoriTrovati said...

This is just so great! I like to use nail file blocks from a beauty supply store. You can get them in different grits and they are usually four sided and you can get them in tight places. You have given me some inspiration! Enjoy the day. Erin

lunedreams said...

These are absolutely fabulous. I can't believe it's nail polish! (And I can't believe how you were able to stay in the lines so completely. Nerves of steel!) I like the bright pair best too! Very Bollywood.