Mica Inlay

How to make your own inlay on any etched surface using DIY or purchased mica powder

I love making my own custom coconut jewelry, I love the whole process from sanding, to cutting, to sanding again and every part in between. I've had this idea of using mica as a sort of inlay on my coconut pieces for some time now. I saw this concept awhile ago where a guy was using a similar technique on wooden rings using the powder of semi-precious stones. I didn't have any semi-precious stones but I did have lots of mica and plenty of time to figure out the whole process. Even though I wasn't the most graceful at this endeavor, I did gain some valuable insight that I plan to share with you here.

In this post I will show you how to take a chunk of mica, bought or found, and use it to make an inlay on any surface imaginable.

click link below for pictures

(This will take you to all of my blog pictures, select the right title to see the how to pictures for this tutorial, sorry for inconvience as this is the only way I can add pictures to my blog at the moment)

Blog Pictures

Let us get started. Things you will need

Something engraved or deeply etched to inlay (whatever you think that Modge Podge will adhere to)
Modge Podge (MP)*
Paint Brush or two
Toothpicks
Mica or mica powder
Grinder, Coffee grinder**
Wet/dry Sand paper (varying fine grits)

* I used the hard coat modge podge for furniture, I am sure that any MP would work.

**If you don't have access to a coffee grinder you can buy powdered mica in many beauty supply stores, it is essentially what mineral makeup is made out of.

Step 1:

Take and flake off a few small pieces of mica and run through the clean coffee grinder until it is pretty smooth and powder like (the more powdery the better). You can obtain mica flakes at any rock shop, and I am sure they could point you in the right direction for some pretty mica powder.

Step 2:

Take engraved material to be inlaid, in my case coconut that I had engraved a design onto, the object here is to make sure that it is engraved deep enough so that you can get a good amount of mica into it, making it last longer and be more visually appealing.

Take a toothpick and fish out some MP and put into the cracks of the engraving. Try to keep the MP in the indent as much as possible to facilitate a cleaner application.

One would think that you could just use glue.... I am sad to say that it isn't that easy. I tried four types of super glue and each one didn't give me the effect that I wanted. Either they were too opaque, or they just didn't have a good consistency to take in the mica and not clump.

Step 3:

Hold piece over container with mica in it, take a paint brush and dust on a good coating over MP that you put in the engraving. You can also take it and drop it in. Mainly you want the mica powder to evenly coat everywhere that has MP.

Let dry for about two hours or more.

Step 4:

Once the piece is dry, sand off any MP/mica mixture that is where it shouldn't be.

You can stop here if you like the results or you can repeat from step 2 adding more MP and dusting with mica powder again. Letting dry and re-sanding.

Once the piece has the look that you are going for (in my case I wanted the mica inlay to be as flush as it could be with the coconut which took about 4 coats to get just right) you can work on the finish sanding.

Step 5:

To get a really smooth result, start with a rougher sandpaper, dip it into water, and sand, sand, sand! Keep working your way to a higher number (grit) until you reach the desired smoothness. I started at a 400 and ended at a 1500, the end result was a very smooth and shiny finish.

There you have it, you made your own piece of something with a beautiful mica inlay! What fun!

As with anytime that you embark on a creative journey you are nurturing your inner child, so pat yourself on the back and know you did something worthwhile and for the greater good.

If you have any techniques that you found to work better or have questions feel free to comment below.

How to make an inlay out of Mica powder like a pro!

Tiffany Scott

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