Great Information on Liquid Metals!

Straight from the Thompson Site - great info!

What are ‘Liquid Metals’ and how are they used?

The Liquid Metals – Bright Liquid Gold and Bright Liquid Palladium are liquids applied with a brush or crow quill pen onto a glass surface, when fired produce a thin metallic coating fused onto the glass surface.  The Bright Liquid Gold (M-12) has a metallic gold appearance and the Bright Liquid Palladium (M-13) has the look of pewter or a gray metallic surface.  The Mother of Pearl (M-15) creates a rainbow iridescence of colors.  The colors are subtle and are seen best when the piece is held at an angle in light.  They show up best on an opaque white enamel such as 1030 opaque white.

These products are applied to a glass surface with brush or pen onto a glass surface.  There is an organic binder in these products that must be burned out slowly, to prevent an irregular or flawed coating.  Dry the piece in a dryer or on top of the furnace.  Next the piece must be ‘smoked’.  This is done by moving the piece into the mouth of the furnace for only 3 or 4 seconds.  This is repeated several times to slowly heat the piece up to the temperature that the organic materials will burn out.  Once the piece has stopped ‘smoking’, the piece is set aside and the furnace is allowed to return to normal firing temperature (1450 degrees F.).  The piece is then fired for 1 to 1 minute, 15 seconds (long enough for the underlying enamel to soften).  If using on fused glass, the kiln should be vented until the temperature has reached 800 degrees F. The temperature is then taken to 1250 to 1350 degrees F., again, hot enough to soften the underlying glass.  Good ventilation is suggested for firing onto enamels on metal and glass fusing.

The ‘Mother of Pearl’ is applied and fired in the same manner as the gold and palladium, but the visual result is not as pronounced as the gold and palladium.

The Essence for thinning (M-14) is used to thin any of the liquid metals as they become thick with use and exposure to air.  Use a drop or two at a time and stir with toothpick.

Brushes used with the liquid metals may be cleaned with turpentine, paint thinner or lighter fluid.