You know them, the little zip baggies full of powder that litter your workshops. Samples sizes offered to get you hooked on this one or that one. I know you've fought with getting a little spoonful out to use......
(If your thinking of something other than mica powders for coloring soap or cosmetics, you really should go somewhere else.....Please.)
So this weekend I decided to put the baggies full of pretty colors into little plastic pots to make them easier to use. I went to the big blue W and got a couple of 24-count boxes of little pots from the beading craft section. Easy to see each pot while keeping them corralled. I sequestered myself in the upstairs studio and proceeded with the transfer process. I am sharing my thoughts on Round 1 for the sake of others. Yes, only halfway through, *sigh*
1) For gods' sakes, wear a dust mask! No seriously, I mean it. Your dog and husband will thank you for not breathing in mica particles and spending the night hacking up a lung. I am thinking about procuring some of these CUTE masks.
2) Wear something that looks pretty when it sparkles. Wash your eyeglasses with water afterwards BEFORE you wipe them off.
3) If the mica has 'Sparkle' in the name, this is code for 'lighter than air particles capable of traveling long distances'. Do not shake the container, or the bag, or even breathe in the general vicinity. Tiny, tiny, tiny taps to settle the powder in the pot or even just poke it with the corner of the baggie.
4) To transfer, cut a corner off the baggie. First though make sure ALL of the powder is residing in the other corner. Or at least a majority, the stuff is stubborn.
5) If you want to reuse the label on the bag to label your pot, peel the sticker off and apply to the lid BEFORE you cut the corner off the bag.
6) Mica loves to live in the bag. It is happy, it doesn't want to move. It will not respond well to flicking, shaking, tapping or other abuse. Rub the bag between your fingers and give it a good massage to loosen it up. Everybody loves a good massage.
7) Mica expands on contact with air. It doesn't look like there is that much in there until you start pouring and find yourself scrambling for another pot. And every color take up a different amount of space. Really, it's one of those immutable laws of the universe.
8) Oh, and wear gloves and keep a damp paper towel handy. Unless you like people to think you have a horrible skin condition. And don't rub your nose.
That's it, except of course for the really important stuff that I have forgotten and will have to relearn in Round 2. I now truly appreciate the hard work our deal----err, that is vendors go through to repackage this stuff in the first place.
If you recognize the BOC song title borrowed for the post title and the classic animated film it was used in, shame on you! Nice people don't watch that kind of stuff! Not that I've ever seen it, or owned a copy on tape and on DVD and the soundtrack. The 'sequel' was meh. I'm sorry I seem to have wandered, what were we discussing again?
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