ALL THAT GLITTERS IS NOT GOLD LEAF

JAPAN by Sea Dean

It will come as no surprise to those that know me, that I love to shop. No, not spend money, but shop. Shopping to me is the art of comparing and analyzing what is on offer. It's not something that should be rushed. Once you have collected all the information on quality and prices, you can make an informed choice and spend your money wisely. This does take time, but can be a very enjoyable process.

In our city we have limited choice for art supplies and I'm always looking for ways to widen my options. In a recent class, one of my students brought along a product purchased in a scrapbooking supply shop. Hmmmm! I didn't jump into that craze, so those shops remained a mystery to me and now with internet shops they have almost died out. However, we do have one in town and I decided to explore.

EVER AFTER Scrapbooking and Paper Supplies inhabits a pleasant and handy location near Walmart and Michaels. Sadly the only fabric store in town used to be just around the corner, but has moved across the lake. The owner of Ever After is very knowledgeable, helpful and happy to order  product. She is also starting to add more crossover art supplies. The store is jam packed with paper, cut outs, stencils, blingy bits etc. and I purchased some of the fascinating jelly glitter product I was looking for and some interesting stencil words.

While browsing I saw some leafing products and decided to compare prices. I noticed that it said "Composition Metal Leaf", ingredients 86% copper and 14% zinc, not a scrap of precious metal! The next time I was in the professional art supply shop, I checked my regualr brand and although the details are less easy to find, it says the same thing. As the material is extremely expensive and real gold leaf is extremely thin, I was under the impression that I was using real 24 karat gold in my work. My apologies, I have been describing my blingy bits as "Gold Leaf" or "Silver Leaf" and now I have to change that to "Metal Leaf" to be PC (politically correct).

I love a bit of shine, especially when it has a golden glow and if you check the BLING section in my Daily Paintworks shop here, you will find a big selection of pieces that contain bronze, copper, silver, gold and crystal. Sadly, one of the downsides of bling is that it doesn't photograph well for the internet.

Above is my favourite signature piece, JAPAN, waiting for a very special patron. Is it you? Click on the name to see details and contact me to purchase.