Today I'm testing Lindy's Stamp Gang Starburst Sprays over a variety of Golden products.  I'm often see comments on my projects saying 'ooh Love this will this technique work on (insert name of product)?'  Now most of the time I've tried a similar idea but sometimes I haven't, so I thought that for today's post I would gather 7 common Golden products and see how the Lindy's Stamp Gang Starbursts react.

I'm testing products commonly used by both artists and crafters over canvas, paper etc.  I've cut up pieces of cardstock and used either a brush or spatula to apply each product as smoothly as possible.  I left the whole lot to dry overnight and confirmed each product had completely set. 

Products Tested

#1 - Plain white cardboard

#2 - Golden Gesso (White)

#3 - Golden Absorbent Ground

#4 - Golden Acrylic Ground 

#5 - Golden Soft Gel (Semi Gloss)

#6 - Golden Fiber Paste

#7 - Golden Light Molding Paste

I've used an eye dropper to apply the same amount of Lindy's Stamp Gang Starburst to each surface.  This applies a lot more liquid and a lot more dye colour in one small area than spraying the colour onto the surface would have.  It means my results are slightly exaggerated, but it's also easier to see what's happening.

First I wanted to test:

• How the colour sits on the surface, does it spread and wick or stay put?
• Did the colour stay true?
• Was the shimmer even, patchy or muted?

Some products reacted exactly as I expected them to, others were a little surprising.  When the Starburst puddle had dried, this is what it looked like on each surface, again I left each overnight to make certain they were dry.  Please note some surfaces are absolutely better than others, especially when it comes to the shimmer - there are huge differences, which I hadn't really expected!

NB: Each photo was taken in the same light, on the same angle.

#1 - Plain white cardboard - the liquid spread into the cardboard (a bit messy because of the amount of liquid)),  colour is true & shimmer is even.  I'd give this 4 stars out of 5

#2 - Golden Gesso (White) - no wicking of colour, true colour (though slightly darker around the edges) & shimmer is even.  I'd give this 5 stars out of 5

#3 - Golden Absorbent Ground - colour has wicked, is darker in some areas & shimmer is patchy (concentrated in area of initial application).  I'd give this 3 stars out of 5

#4 - Golden Acrylic Ground - no wicking of colour, colour is much darker & shimmer is concentrated in the spot initial colour was applied.  Shimmer is muted.  I'd give this 3 stars out of 5

#5 - Golden Soft Gel (Semi-Gloss) - no wicking of colour, colour is a little darker & shimmer is evenly spread, though it has settled into pits in surface.  I'd give this 5 stars out of 5

#6 - Golden Fiber Paste - colour has wicked, is significantly darker, shimmer has settled into the surface texture and is almost invisible.  I'd give this 2 stars out of 5

#7 - Golden Light Molding Paste - no wicking of colour, colour is much darker & shimmer is evenly spread, though muted.  I'd give this 2 stars out of 5

To sum up the shimmer is at it's best on Paper, Gesso and Soft Gel.

Next I wanted to test what happens when the colour is re-wet, as happens when layering or applying extra product over the top.  This determines if colours get muddy, mix, move etc., so basically how much of a mess you might make!

• Did the colour re-activate?
• Did the colour move when re-activated?
• How much colour re-activated?  A little - Low, a bit - Med or a lot - High?

To test colour re-activation I added 2 drops of water to each coloured test patch, let it sit for 5 seconds then I dragged a paint brush through the water and across the surface.  Admittedly five seconds is longer than the average wet product may be sitting on your coloured area - but I wanted to see what would happen.

I was interested to see that ALL the surfaces I tested had colour re-activation to some degree, and ALL allowed some colour to move, it was just a matter of how much!  

NB:  Keep in mind there was more dye in one small spot than there would normally be if you had sprayed your colour on.

#1 - Plain white cardboard - medium amount of colour re-activation.

#2 - Golden Gesso (White) - this had a high amount of colour re-activation.

#3 - Golden Absorbent Ground - this had the lowest amount of colour re-activation.

#4 - Golden Acrylic Ground - this had a medium amount of colour re-activation.

#5 - Golden Soft Gel (Semi Gloss) - this allowed a lot of colour to re-activate!  

#6 - Golden Fiber Paste - this showed a medium amount of colour re-activation.

#7 - Golden Light Molding Paste - this also showed a high amount of colour re-activation.

 To sum up the colour moved the LEAST on Absorbent Ground, Acrylic Ground, Fiber Paste and Paper.

AND

The colour moved the MOST on Gesso, Soft Gel and Light Molding Paste.

Now, how do these results help choose a product?  Basically they give you a quick guide (which I've displayed below as a table) of how Lindy's Stamp Gang Sprays will behave, what shows the shimmer at it's best, what you can layer on (and what you can't), how much the colour will move and spread and if the colour is likely to mix with any other colour you spray over the top.  I'll be trying the Soft Gel and Acrylic Ground in upcoming projects, as they look like I might get fantastic shimmer and interesting results!

I hope this helps a little, will be back testing what you can use to seal your Lindy's in another post :)