by Martha
(Michigan)
I was using this method to make some 'mottled' red and blue beads, intending to add silver splashes here and there. When I had used the dauber technique to do it, the result was really interesting, but I wanted to make it more random. Well, for some reason - and I don't know the actual reason but it wasn't the amount of ink in a specific color! - the silver seems to overpower the other colors, and will cover over them. It doesn't appear to push them out of the way, it covers them. At one point, I had an almost entirely silver bead, although I had two different colors in the shaving cream at once. This was a good method with the red and blue inks, but once that silver got in there, it looked separate on the plate but it was a different story on the bead. Adding a dab of alcohol to it just spread the silver even further.
I ended up just using a toothpick to drop tiny drops of the silver ink on the beads, and blowing quickly through a coffee stirrer straw. Next time, I'll just use the dauber if I'm using silver. I haven't gotten my gold ink to actually become gold yet - I think it's defective - but if it ever does, I'll try that one with the foam.