A New Technique I Came Up With - Grungeboard and UTEE

Here is a technique I came up with last night.  I won't say that I am the first person to ever do this, but I have not seen videos or tutorials specifically for it so I did come up with it myself.  This is a technique that is a combination of other techniques I have seen on youtube videos and blogs, I just combined them into a new technique.  I have taken some photos of the steps I did along the way and hope these are helpful.

Here are the supplies I used:
Grungeboard or chipboard shapes
Versamark Ink Pad
Pearl Ex or Perfect Pearls Powder
UTEE Clear Embossing Enamel
Coffee Filter
Non-stick Craft Mat
Paint Brush (soft bristles)
Tweezers
Embossing Heat Gun

The first part of this technique was inspired by a tutorial at SwirlyDoos.

Make sure you are using your non-stick craft mat for this project.  Not only will you be able to easily remove the powder residue and the UTEE, but it is also heat resistant.  To clean the powder and UTEE of my mat, first I used some water which took some of it off, then 409 which took a little more.  The think that worked best was to make sure the UTEE was totally cooled off and then spray the mat with Stampin' Up Stampin' Mist Stamp Cleaner and a paper towel.  With minimal elbow grease it came right off.

Step 1: I covered the front of the grungeboard or chipboard shapes very well in Versamark ink.

Step 2: Using a paintbrush I applied Pearl Ex powder to the front of the shape.  For this project I used "Super Bronze" color.  You can also use multiple colors as you will see in some pictures below.  The Pearl Ex goes a long way so just dip the edge of your brush in the pot and spread it on the shape.  Once covered, I used the paintbrush to remove any extra powder.

Step 3: Once covered, stamp the Versamark ink over the front of the shape again.  Some powder will likely come off onto your ink pad so I use one of my older ink pads for this portion of the project.

Step 4: Place the object in the coffee filter and cover with UTEE. 

Step 5: Shake off the extra UTEE and use an Embossing Heat Gun to heat the UTEE until it fully melts.  Use your tweezers to hold the shape in place so it does not move around.  I find that if I turn on my heat gun and let it heat up for 20-30 seconds before using it on my project I get much better results. 

Repeat Steps 3-5 at least twice more until you have a nice smooth finish on your shape.  I found that if I was not heating the UTEE enough and was having trouble getting the smooth finish, that I could use the heat gun to heat the UTEE more and then it would even out.

Optional Step 6:  For a few of my pieces, I wanted a antiqued or distress look to the shape, so once the UTEE was smooth and while still fairly warm, I put the shape in my freezer for about 20 minutes or so.  Once cold, I removed the shape and then bent the shape (this works best on grungeboard), until the UTEE cracked (do this many times).  Then I used a ColorBox Fluid Chalk Cat's Eye Inkpad - Blackberry on the edges of the shape and rubbed it over the top to fill in some of the cracks.  I hope you can see the cracks in the picture below.  I got the idea for the "Cracked Glass" technique from InkStains blog.

Here are the results of this technique.  I found that Perfect Pearls works just as well for this technique.  You can see one a few of the flower and large scroll where I used multiple colors of Pearl Ex and Perfect Pearls.