But sometimes you want to add texture - perhaps you are struggling with heat polishing or you have used alcohol inks and ended up with lots of bubbles or you just want to include a lovely pattern.
This is where texture mats and sheets come into their own.
There are so many textures on the market but for jewel enamel you need to make sure that the sheet can take the heat and that there is a decent depth to the texture. You rarely get fine detail with a pour although it is always worth trying with a little scrap because you never know what surprising results you can get from the most unlikely looking texture.
Helen Breil who works with polymer clay produces some wonderfully detailed sheets - some are too fine for UTEE but others have deep swirls that will give a great effect
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| a beautiful Helen Breil texture mat |
Karantha who produce brilliant moulds also do a stunning range of texture mats made of very durable red rubber. Again choose carefully to maximise the effect
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| a Karantha texture sheet Lisa Pavelka is well known for her textures which look stunning in jewel enamel  |
these super textures are from Lisa Pavelka
Have you discovered Ranger's Texture Treads? They are thick black rubber sheets that have a look of being made from car tyres! They are designed especially for UTEE jewel enamel and have very deep texture. Each sheet is split into two - there will be an embossing side and a debossing side - one pattern going in and one going out. So use scrap to try which suits your project best.
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| you can see quite clearly the two sides of the sheet |
Often when you use a texture sheet you will get a matte finish on the raised texture which you can heat polish. If you do decide to polish be very carful - too much heat or too long in one place with the gun and you will lose that lovely surface. Why not highlight the texture with mica powder gently rubbed over the surface with your finger or use gliding wax/gleams rubbed in. Once set you can buff these up to give a great shine.
I really like the way Leonie Pujol uses a texture sheet to pour onto - have a look at this youtube clip
I have written a blog post about pouring onto a texture sheet to create a suncatcher and you will see in detail how to use a cutter to pour into. The choice is yours - pour out and press the cutter into the UTEE or pour directly into the cutter.
A search on Google will get you plenty of images and tutorials plus super blogs about creative people experimenting with UTEE and texture sheets. However not many people will be using this for jewellery which is what I do.
If you are careful you can use rubber stamps ( remember the UTEE is very hot so perhaps don't use your favourite stamp). I have also successfully used clear stamps to gently impress the surface of a poured bezel.
