Classic Luggage: Diamond Glaze vs. 3D Crystal Lacquer

I originally aired this product review on 05/28/07 on my reviews blog. As I prepare to shut the old blog down, I will be transferring some of the most popular content onto The Land of Lost Luggage as you know it today. Enjoy! 

Somewhere along the line, a vendor gave me a small trail size tube of Diamond Glaze. Diamond Glaze is a mixable “water-base adhesive” that you can use to give your projects a raised, glass like finish. According to the packaging, you can also thin the product with water to create a lacquer like finish and/or mix it with dye for a colored transparent finish. The packaging also states that Diamond Glaze is the best adhesive for vellum, glitter and beads. For this field test, we will focus solely on the glass-like-finish properties. Diamond Glaze is manufactured by Judikins.

3D Crystal Lacquer in clear is sold in large volume bottles. You can also purchase colored 3D Crystal Lacquer in sets. The large bottle comes with a needle tip applicator and the smaller bottles are without the needle. Although the smaller needles have a slightly larger applicator, the opening was also suitable for detail work as my needle quickly became clogged (my fault).
I recently used both products in separate projects in the same manner. Here are the results:

Diamond Glaze is much thinner than Crystal Lacquer. Even though the Diamond Glaze came with a fine tip applicator, I was very nervous that the product would flow past the outline of my project.

Originally, the representative who gave us the sample of Diamond Glaze stated that this product was better than Crystal Lacquer because it produced little or no air bubbles during application. (Vendors, please note: If you make claims like this during your presentation, watch out! You never know when Lost Luggage is in your audience!) Now, keeping in mind that if air bubbles are present, all you need to do is gently move the applicator through them so they will pop, I found this statement completely false. The Diamond Glaze indeed produced more air bubbles during application than the Crystal Lacquer. So much so in fact, that I was unable to remove them completely from my project.

3D Crystal Lacquer goes onto your project much slower than Diamond Glaze. I find that I am able to better control the product flow due to the consistency of this product. The directions for Crystal Lacquer state that you should outline your project and allow the outline to dry before fill in. Impatient as I am, I always omit this step. The product is think enough that if the outline is not dry, the fill-in will not overflow.

The Judikins website sates that Diamond Glaze may take 2-3 hours to completely dry based on the thickness of the application. Sakura Hobby Craft mentions a 15-30 minute drying time for their product.

I have applied Diamond Glaze and Crystal Lacquer to Versafine ink and ink jet generated images with no problem. I am always nervous of smearing; but have never had a project smear. I would suggest that you make sure your project is completely dry before adding either product- just in case.

Because of the ease of application, and the thickness of the product resulting in better control, the Luggage vote for this test goes to Crystal Lacquer. I recommend this product to give your projects a little boost when needed.