Ask Ali: Pearlex and Gum Arabic

Welcome to my new series of blog posts, where you have the opportunity to ask me anything you like about your art adventures…if I can help, I will do with pleasure.

As the first of this series is going out to you all in December, it felt appropriate to tackle a product that has the potential to give your festive projects a bit of zing - Pearlex. Pearlex is a pearlised, inert pigment powder that can be added to an astonishing array of projects, both two and three dimensional, did you know for example that you can knead it into polymer clay or even add it to nail varnish?

It might look as though you don’t get much in a pot but I can promise you that you don’t need very much at all to pack a huge punch in your projects. But how do you use it? I like to mix it with gum arabic, the base of all watercolour paints as then it resembles watercolour and if you play around with the type of gum arabic you use, you can be in control of the consistency at all times.

Jacquard, the company that make Pearlex, also have a powdered Gum Arabic in their range and this is the one that I prefer, although you can use a liquid version just as successfully.

My favourite way of mixing the two together is to use a lolly stick or coffee stirrer to decant a little into a ceramic palette and blend them together. You could also use an empty plastic pan so that you don’t waste any. The manufacturer recommends a ratio of 1 part gum to 4 parts pigment but my preferred recipe is 50/50 so that it comes out more like gouache, then I can thin it out if I only want a glaze of colour.

Then it’s entirely up to you how and where you apply it but I can recommend my black watercolour paper as it shows up beautifully on such a dark background, the only limits are your imagination however as I have seen it cleverly used as the shine on water, frost on trees or even as highlights in portraits…just enough to give a little ‘zing’ of colour.

Here is Geraldine to show off how I used it for the pattern of her coat, it is notoriously difficult to photograph to show the shine but trust me, it gives a lovely effect.

If you have any suggestions of things you would like to see me cover in the future, drop me a line, leave a comment here or on social media. I can’t promise to get it in the schedule quickly but will always do my best, Ali