Tips for Using Inka Gold Metallic Rub on Polymer Clay
Video #411: A polymer compatible product that’s part paint, part wax, with the consistency of a mousse.
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IN THIS POST: — inka gold — metallic rub — finishes — (Topics marked with an asterisk* are discussed in the Comments Section below).
Topics Covered In This Video:
- I tested the Inka Gold in Steel Blue on a piece of Baked Premo Clay for compatibility, by just rubbing the product onto the clay sample and buffing with a soft cloth.
- After buffing, the Inka Gold Metallic Rub comes to a high shine with a metallic gleam.
- When added to a baked piece of polymer, I found that even though it was dry to the touch and no longer came off onto the cloth when buffing, it was soft enough to scrape off with my fingernail.
- On baked clay, the finish would not be suited for high wear projects like polymer clay jewelry, but would be just fine for other polymer projects like sculptures and home decor pieces that wouldn’t get a lot of handling.
- Inka Gold appears to be polymer clay compatible, with no reactions after sitting on clay for a few months.
- I tested the Inka Gold Metallic Rub on raw Premo polymer clay and baked it at 275F for one hour and got much better results.
- Inka Gold, on raw clay and then baked, is very durable, and I was unable to scratch it off the surface at all. So I would use this method if I were going to use Inka Gold on a piece of polymer clay jewelry or other high use polymer clay project. Keep in mind that once baked on the clay, it will be removed if sanded, so your piece will need to be designed in such a way that sanding is not required.
00:00:03 –> 00:00:07 Hi guys, its Cindy Lietz, your Polymer Clay Tutor, and today in the PCT Test Lab, we are
00:00:08 –> 00:00:13 talking about Inka Gold Metallic Rub.
00:00:13 –> 00:00:21 And it is an interesting product, I recently picked this up at Michaels, and it is a metallic
00:00:21 –> 00:00:29 type…it’s not really a paint, it’s a little bit more like a wax, but it’s sort of a Mousse
00:00:29 –> 00:00:35 type texture to it and you can spread it on to things…and I wanted to test it on Polymer
00:00:35 –> 00:00:38 Clay and I did, and this is what happened.
00:00:38 –> 00:00:44 Now I’ve got the first part…or the first sample I wanted to show you, this is a baked
00:00:44 –> 00:00:46 piece of Premo!
00:00:46 –> 00:00:53 Polymer Clay, and I just rubbed a little of the Inka Gold onto it, and this particular
00:00:53 –> 00:00:57 color is called Steel Blue, and I just rubbed it on there, and then you can just buff it
00:00:57 –> 00:01:03 right off, and it comes to a really neat high shine.
00:01:03 –> 00:01:10 On the baked piece of clay, even after it’s dried quite a bit, you can scrape it off with
00:01:10 –> 00:01:18 your nail, it’s not… it won’t rub off onto your hands or anything, but if you really
00:01:18 –> 00:01:23 scrape on it, it will come off, which means that it wouldn’t be the most durable thing
00:01:23 –> 00:01:29 if you were gonna be hanging it on a necklace or something where it would rub all the time.
00:01:29 –> 00:01:36 Now, it is Polymer Clay compatible, I’m not finding any type of weird reactions or anything,
00:01:36 –> 00:01:42 so you could use it on something like a sculpture or something like that and not have to worry
00:01:42 –> 00:01:49 about it rubbing off without a lot of… just touching, you know what I mean.
00:01:49 –> 00:01:55 Now, when I put it on raw clay…now here’s a piece of Black clay that I had some texture
00:01:55 –> 00:02:01 to…I put it through on a texture plate, and then I just wipe the Inka Gold onto the
00:02:01 –> 00:02:08 surface of it and baked it, it baked in so tough that it won’t scratch off with my nail
00:02:08 –> 00:02:14 at all, so if you’re gonna use something like Inka Gold on something that will be rubbed
00:02:14 –> 00:02:19 all the time like a bracelet, jewelry beads, that kind of thing, then putting it on raw
00:02:19 –> 00:02:25 is the way to go…putting it on to raw clay, it’s tough and it will be very durable and
00:02:25 –> 00:02:27 it works beautifully.
00:02:27 –> 00:02:32 So I just thought I’d show that to you, and we’ll do some proper demos with it in the
00:02:32 –> 00:02:36 future, but I just wanted to let you know that it is Polymer Clay compatible, it’s tougher
00:02:36 –> 00:02:41 on the raw clay than if it’s put onto baked clay, but it’ll work either way.
00:02:41 –> 00:02:46 So I hope that was helpful for you, make sure to press that like button if it was.
00:02:46 –> 00:02:51 And my question for you is have you used Inka Gold on Polymer Clay?
00:02:51 –> 00:02:53 What kind of projects?
00:02:53 –> 00:02:54 And what do you think of it?
00:02:54 –> 00:02:58 I would love to hear that in the comment section below, that would be great.
00:02:58 –> 00:03:02 And do make sure to subscribe to our channel, we have lots of new videos that come out every
00:03:02 –> 00:03:04 week and you’re not gonna wanna miss them.
00:03:04 –> 00:03:06 We’ll see you next time, and bye for now.
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Resource Links:
- Related Video: Has Your Inka Gold Metallic Rub Gone All Moldy?
- Related Video: Using Gilder’s Paste on Your Polymer Clay
- Related Video: PYM II Polymer Clay Safe Spray Finish
- Related Video: Reviving Dried Out Gilders Paste with Paint Thinner
- Related Video: Renaissance Wax For Finishing Polymer Clay
- Amazon: Viva Décor Inka Gold **
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Hi Cindy,
Just wondering if you have ever tried the DecoArt Metallic Luster? Came across that at Michaels when looking for the Inka Gold and seems to be very similar. Also some new products are the Art C Luxe paint and Wax paste. Very tempting. Thanks for all you do.
Hi Nancy those items you mentioned are all on my list of things to get and test. I too am curious on how they would fair with polymer clay.
I was just wondering whether for a crackled finish on polymer clay, whether inka gold paint or daler rowney pearlescent acrylic inks would be best? I have only tried the ink so far with good results. Any information would be appreciated!
Hi Rachel, I have not used either of those products for a crackled technique yet, so I am sorry I can’t tell you what is best. It sounds like a fun thing to add to my test list though…
I have been looking for something like this for some small animal charms I’m in the process of making I almost got gilders paste but I’m going to end up giving these a try. Thank you so much for sharing so many awesome videos. I’ve purchased renaissance wax because of your tutorials and I love using it on my small custom pet sculptures it’s really a lovely finish. I do about 3 coats of it.
Hi everyone
I have a question for our lab-coated tester ;)
Have you used Aleene’s Jewelry Pendant Gel yet?
heard a lady mention it , on you tube – want to say Pandora ??
but looking around the net I couldn’t find much else about how one would use with polymer clay
and knowing that Cindy has Nothing better to do (joking!!) I wanted to add to her growing list
Hi Sherry, yeah I saw that video too. I haven’t even heard of that product before so I’ll have to look into it. In another video that lady mentioned that Iris Mishly told her the product gets sticky. The Pandora lady said it won’t get sticky if used in thick layers instead of thin, which is strange advice, since usually glazes get sticky if they are done in too thick a layer instead of several thin ones. (Glazes often will dry on the top but not all the way through when they are put on thickly.) Any way, sounds like something to test for myself. I’ll put it on my list.
Thank you a lot Cindy:)
you know if it works as a clear thick coat that would be great
I never did get up the courage to try epoxy
I should work on that:)
again thank you for taking the time and money to do these tests for us!
I’ve watched Cindy’s free videos on YouTube and learned LOADS. I think the videos are fantastic and I eagerly subscribed. I also credit her personally to fixing a lot of the mistakes I’ve made on this learning curve.
Thanks for sharing this Cindy. I haven’t used Inka Gold yet and am quite tempted to try it. I am mainly using Gilder’s Paste which you can use on baked and raw clay, but you can’t sand it and have to varnish it. I would like to know what the main difference between the Inka and the Gilder’s paste is? Sounds like both have to be varnished for jewellery items to makes sure the stuff doesn’t rub off. Love the steel blue colour by the way.
Hi Helen, I don’t have any technical or ingredient info on Inka Gold or Gilders Paste to do a proper comparison, but from using it, the main differences I found were:
Inka Gold is:
– water based
– has a fluffy almost mouse type texture
Gilders Paste is:
– solvent based
– solid, shoe polish type paste
Other than that their properties are fairly similar at first glance. When I spend more time using the Inka Gold, I’ll let you know if I notice other differences. Hope that helps!
Thanks for your answer Cindy. Maybe another difference is the colour choice – that blue is just very tempting – so beautiful. I am not sure you get get this colour with GP.
I absolutely love using lnka-Gold – l use it on raw clay, most often to highlight textures, but l’ve also added more after baking to brighten things up.
I haven’t tried scraping at it with a fingernail but maybe l should, lol – but so far it seems fine for general wear…though l have usually sealed it with Future/Klear.
I really love the way you can add different colours if you’re not happy with how it looks – it’s so opaque you can keep playing until you get the look you want.
I was only able to buy the large pots and some have dried out more than others – l’ve added a bit of water which has led to a bit of mould growth, but another time l’ll add a drop of vinegar to the water which might prevent mould.
I like Penny’s idea of a wet cloth – do you put a small one in the closed jar or do you drape a large cloth over the opened jar, Penny?
Good question Carrie! I was wondering the same thing?
I use Inka Gold a lot – I have even watered it down and used it to cover a wooden frame; Helen Breil recommends that you use your Inka Gold on textured raw clay, then add Gilder’s Paste as an extra decoration – she has done some beautiful stuff with it (see the slide show here). Incidentally, it dries up over time – but by simply using a damp cloth on it it is revived – for it is water based.
Hi, I love this product & use it a lot. If you use it on baked clay & re-bake it again, it is very durable & will not scratch off. It’s also great when mixed with a little water & painted on with a paint brush, then baked again. Great product.
I love coming here each Tuesday afternoon to see what you are sharing with us.
Something to add to your demo . That product has a little problem it dries. That is the down side of the product for me.You can add water and it’s still usable. I have used on many things allways on raw clay. I prefer the smaller sizes to the big ones because I don’t produce to sell.
Have you tried their crackling product called Faceten lack. I have and came up with surprising things when using the 000 translucent one. I thought I I had bought white. Mixed with acrylic inks you can get more effects. I prefer the black because it makes smaller cracks . I don’t know why though.
Here are my links on the subject just to give you an idea :
The first is with the black.
The second with the translucent and a metallic blue.
Its in French.
The Faceten Lack product looks like fun, Hermine! I love the effects you got with the translucent and metallic blue! :)
I have a heap of different ways of getting crackled effects, but somehow I’ve never got around to trying any product that’s specifically for producing crackles! I’ll have to get some of this to play with! (It looks like it’s called Croco Crackling Colour when packaged for English-speaking markets.)
I have never tried Faceten Lack before Hermine, looks cool. It’s name sounds so European! I see it is made by Viva products, the same company that makes Pardo clay. Will keep an eye out for it and try it out some time. Thanks for sharing!
I’ve mostly used Inka Gold on textured pieces where I want a whole range of shifting metallic colours for added interest. I bought quite a number of trial size jars from Poly Clay Play a while ago because I wasn’t sure whether I’d like the product or not (I do), and the small jars would also let me try out a bunch of different colours. I love Old Silver, and there are a whole heap of beautiful vibrant pearlescents which you don’t get with Gilders Paste, for example, which is similar in application method and use although quite different in formulation. You only need to use a little, so it’ll be quite some time before I finish even the small jars and need to buy more.
Two thoughts on the durability of the finish…
Cindy mentioned applying it to cured clay and just letting it dry, and also applying it to raw clay and curing the two together, with the first approach not being as durable as the second, but you can also apply it to cured clay and then cure again, which should improve the durability while still letting you use it in ways that you can’t on raw clay because it would get deformed. An alternative would be to apply something like PYM II on top of the Inka Gold layer.