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I have made a sculpture from strip mache and plan on applying gesso, acrylic paints, glitter and maybe other embellishments. Can anyone tell me if I should varnish before adding the glitter or if the glitter will still shine after varnishing over it? If I varnish first, will the glue adhere to the varnished surface? I'd appreciate any advice from those who have experience in this area. It would save me alot of trial and error time.
Paper Rose 
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Thanks Jackie! That would work great on a future project, where I need an over all glitter effect. I'll keep that in mind.
Sorry for not giving enough info. What I'm trying to do is outline a design in glitter, so the glitter needs to just stick only to the areas the glue is applied. I guess what I need to know is how well glue sticks to dry varnish. I'm concerned with it peeling off. Or if covering the glitter with varnish ruins the glitter effect by not allowing the light to reflect. Maybe I'll just apply the glitter and just varnish around the glitter and hope the glue will afford enough protection for the glued areas.
Paper Rose
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You could maybe try "glitter glue". I used this on my "shooting stars" pot to give sparkling entrails to the stars. You just squeeze it out like toothpaste so you could in effect draw lines with it. Not sure about putting it on top of varnish though. It may slip off when dry.
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Great idea! I just happened to have bought some glitter glue the other day and I guess this is my opportunity to try it out. I also thought about how you mentioned that the glitter would stick to the varnish, maybe applying the outlines with varnish first using a thin brush, applying the glitter, then varnishing around the glitter after the varnish/glitter drys. That way everything would be covered.
Thanks again Jackie!
Paper Rose
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If you draw an outline on your piece first then varnish the whole object then add glitter to a small amount of varnish and paint in the design.. I have added glitter to varnish and it sparkled quite well.
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Thanks for the input Ellen!
I've varnished over metallic paint before and it took away the glitter effect and left me a flat color. That's why I've been afraid to varnish over glitter. I've never considered mixing glitter with varnish and then applying. I appreciate the idea! If it doesn't work in this instance, maybe I can use it on something else.
Paper Rose
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