Rub 'n Buff Martini

A while back, I posted about how I tried to apply Rub 'n Buff to a glossy plastic bead with less-than-amazing results. I ended up with an interesting marbled look, and I was determined to do something a little creative with the remaining beads and a few different colors of the Amaco Rub 'n Buff. I used Sapphire Rub 'n Buff, Jade Rub 'n Buff, Ruby Rub 'n Buff, and Grecian Gold Rub 'n Buff on the 17 beads I had (all of varying sizes). Here's the pic from my original blunder again for a reminder of what kind of results I got:

To get this look, I put a dab of Rub 'n Buff on a cloth and rubbed the bead into it. The Rub 'n Buff didn't coat the slick surface evenly as it didn't have any texture to cling to. It was a bit like writing on a dry erase board. The color stayed on the bead until I touched it - then it just wiped right off. I eventually gave up and just let the bead sit for a few hours. The Rub 'n Buff dried on the surface, although it would probably come off readily with some water and elbow grease.

Even though it wasn't what I was going for, I thought the bead ended up looking pretty cool. I had another 15, so I decided to try out some different colors. It was interesting to work with the different varieties on the material. The colors that have a higher shine (Jade and Grecian Gold) have a much higher concentration of metal flakes and a stronger color relative to the other two jewel tones (Sapphire and Ruby) which have a more translucent finish. If I had worked at it, I probably could have gotten a solid gold bead, but the material is so touchy on the plastic surface, that there would have been no way to get it perfect. Flaws would have driven me crazy, so I stuck with the marbled look.

After I got done with all the beads, my first thought was, "OK, those look cool, but now what do I do with them?" I wanted to get at least one cool photo out of the project, so I loaded all of the beads into a martini glass, filled it with water (originally hoping the beads would float, but no luck). I got this photo, which I think is pretty cool:

So I successfully turned lemons into lemonade...err, a martini. Something like that. If I think of anything else to do with the beads, I'll be sure to upload a pic!

P.S. Sorry for the gap in posting. Things were a little crazy at the day job for a while. Look for frequent updates over the next few days!