Vintaj(tm) inks are opaque, and therefore might not seem like a promising choice for adding color to metal clay. If you’ve paid for silver, why do you want to cover it up? However, with a little creativity, the inks can be quite useful.

This is a pendant that I made using standard metal clay techniques. The rough surface above and below the horse were made by brush dragging, a technique for adding texture. Brush dragging will be discussed in detail in some other post.

Here is the pendant after adding the first color (colors were chosen by the person who commissioned this piece — obviously, one could use any color one wished). The horse is now quite visible, but it has lost the shine of silver. That will be fixed in a moment. The odd purple spots are because I was working on a paper plate. A paper plate is actually a good work surface for Vintaj ™ inks — one can simply discard the plate when one is finished, and not worry about spills.

Here is the pendant after darkening the brush dragging areas. I used a red/brown for these areas, so it would pick up the red of the horse, but still contrast.

After these steps, using a nail polishing block, I simply sanded the piece. The colors in the raised areas came off. The colors in the recessed ones remained. Now, the beauty of the silver shows through.  In this picture, the pendant has been put on a velvet cord, and a coin has been photographed with it to indicate scale.

I honestly think this piece would have looked better with darker colors. However, this piece was done on commission, and the client picked the colors. However, that is no way changes the basic premise: Vintaj(tm) brand inks, despite being opaque, can be used to give a new look to metal clay.