Martha Stewart paints come in a variety of finishes, and I picked up one bottle of each type to see how they'd work as mists. I used the same mixing method as in my neon mist post, and I noticed right away that the Martha Stewart paints are a much higher quality medium than the Americana brand that I used last week. They mixed much more easily (a lot less shaking was needed) and after a couple of days the pigment still hadn't settled to the bottom of the mister like the Americanas did after just a day or so.
Each finish type yielded different results, with some being much more suitable for making mists than others. Here's a rundown of what I noted about each one:
Satin
If you like a matte mist, this is definitely the paint for you. The mixture sprayed evenly, didn't clog, and pooled up just a tiny bit in the heavier saturation areas and dried with a wonderful watercolor-y look.
High Gloss
I was hoping that this glossy paint would yield a shiny mist- not in a shimmery way, but shiny like an enamel dot. Instead, it was very much matte like the Satin finish paint- not a bad look, just not what I was expecting.
Pearl
My first thought on spritzing this out onto the paper was oh, my, this is what Glimmer Mist should have been like! I'd always disliked Glimmer Mist because of the low levels of pigmentation in the spray, meaning you had to use a lot (which equaled lots of water on your page which equaled lots of buckling) to get a colorful finish. Not so with mists mixed with Pearl finish Martha Stewart paint. It's wonderfully shimmery and wonderfully colorful at the same time.
Metallic
Speaking of mists I've been disappointed with, I've never found a metallic gold or silver mist in the scrapbooking world that agreed with me. Metallic finish Martha Stewart paints, however, make just the sort of metallic mists I've always wanted! The finished result is shiny, but not in a shimmery, glimmery way like the Pearl mists. This is a much more even, overall shine instead of little flecks here and there.
Glitter
This was the only paint out of the lot that I wasn't able to make a decent mist with, but to be fair I really didn't expect much out of it. When I looked at the bottle in the store and saw how big the glitter flakes were, I was positive that they'd clog the mist sprayer, and I was right. What came out was a sad, barely colored stream of mostly water...but I had to give it a try, right?
The Glitter paint is actually a much different formula from the other four finishes I tried- it's more like a colored "glue" with glitter in it. I squeezed a tiny amount out onto the paper and brushed it around with my finger to show how little pigment it has when it's spread out- lovely I'm sure for craft projects, but not so great for making mist.
Just in case you're bummed about missing the Martha Stewart paint sale last week, this week Folk Art paints are .89 each (they make amazing mists, too) and there's a 25% off an entire purchase coupon available here to print from the Michaels web site, good May 16-18. Michaels usually has one brand or another of paint on sale in any given week, and if you're patient the brand you want will likely be on sale again in the next month or two!