Wow, that title is a mouthful!   Yet I’m still not sure it does justice to what I am sharing in this post.  You see, I have many different sealants, glazes, and topcoats that I am practicing with, comparing, etc.  And there are many unique applications for these sealants, even within the seemingly small realm of paper quilled jewelry.

When people make paper quilling jewelry they often want to make sure the result is water proof, or at least water resistant.  There are many sealants, glazes, varnishes, etc. that can be used for this.  My goal is to test as many as possible in different applications and share the results to help you choose the one that is best for you!  Click here to read more posts about sealants.

Today I am specifically comparing four sealants – diamond glaze, 3D crystal lacquer, crystal coat glaze, and glossy PPA (perfect paper adhesive).

I am also comparing them in a VERY specific application – using gold edged paper and in bezel rings.  I will also be comparing these same sealants using normal quilling paper.  This particular comparison is ONLY for gold edged paper.  I don’t even know if you’ll get the same results with silver edge (I’ll have to test that as well!).  That is very important to know because you cannot take the results of this comparison and think you’ll get the same results using it on any quilled jewelry.

Having said that, let’s get to the good stuff!

Here are the four adhesives and things I noticed:

ALL – All of these sealants/glazes can be used as both adhesives and sealants.  As the first three below are quite thin, there doesn’t seem to be as many practical applications for using it as a glue, but they all work great for gluing down things into bezels, for example.  The PPA is thicker and works great as a glue in most applications.   All of these sealants left a very shiny smooth surface.

Diamond Glaze – This is actually the first time I’m using diamond glaze.  I look forward to using it and comparing it on other upcoming projects.  I noticed first of all that this is the thinnest of these four particular sealants.  It also seems to leave the hardest coat once they are all completely dry.  It also seemed to dry the fastest of all three, which is handy! Find diamond glaze at Scrapbook.com, Blue Moon Scrapbooking, or on Amazon.  **ADDED NOTE**  I have since used diamond glaze on further pieces including this quilled ring and have had great results.  I like the harder coat that it leaves!

3D Crystal Lacquer – I’ve used this once or twice so far.  It is very similar in consistency to the crystal coat glaze. Find 3D Crystal Lacquer on Amazon

Crystal Coat Glaze – I’ve been using this for a couple years.  Leaves a nice shiny finish just as the others do.  Find it at Custom Quilling, and on Amazon

Glossy PPA – This is a paper craft glue, but can also be used as a sealant.  It is the thickest of these four sealants.  I had to be more careful while this was drying.  Since it was thick it took awhile for some unseen bubbles to come to the surface.  If I hadn’t been around when they came near to the surface, it would have dried a bit unevenly.  Stick around so you can pop any rogue bubbles before they dry near the surface!  Find it at Custom Quilling, and on Amazon.

Now let’s get to some photos!

This first photo shows all four finished rings.  They have been drying for several days so that I could see the most accurate results.  You can see some slight differences between them, I’ll show them closer up in the following photos..

Here is a closeup of the two of the rings.  The first has diamond glaze, and the second has crystal coat glaze.  The first thing I noticed with the diamond glaze is that it leaves a bit of a blue hue for some reason.  This was the most liquid of the sealants and it is also the quickest to dry and has the hardest finish.

The crystal coat glaze also leaves a slight blue hue, but not as much.  The crystal coat glaze makes it look like some of the gold edge is rubbed off.  It’s totally not, and I don’t know if the glaze made it sink into the paper or it’s just visual, but it doesn’t look as solid gold as the others.  This is actually the second ring I made with the crystal coat glaze because I wanted to be sure of this.  I made sure the gold edges for this one were really nice, solid, and not rubbed off.  But after the glaze dries, it looks like it is…

Here are the next two rings.  The first is 3D Crystal Lacquer and the second is glossy PPA.

The 3D crystal lacquer again gives a very slight bluish hue.  It is very similar to the crystal coat glaze, except that the gold color does not look rubbed off with the 3D crystal lacquer.

The glossy PPA I was surprised to see was my favorite for this specific application.   The gold color came through true and unblemished.  It it much thicker than the others, so you have to be careful to pop the bubbles a few minutes after applying it.

Here are all four rings compared to each other:   I’d say that my personal favorites, in order, for this comparison are:

1) glossy PPA – for keeping the truest color!

2) 3D laquer – the color is the second best, just a slight blue hue

3) crystal coat glaze – some of the gold looks rubbed off and it has a bit of a blue hue (I’ve used this sealant for normal paper and have seen no problems there).

4) diamond glaze – leaves the most bluish hue of them all

*note* these favorites are only for this very specific application!  All of these sealants might work equally well on gold edge paper that isn’t in a bezel like this.  When it’s in a bezel the sealant gets poured on thickly, so that may be the reason for the blue hue for the last three.  More experimenting is necessary!

Here is the diamond glaze next to the PPA, you can see there is quite a difference!

Have you used a certain sealant with paper quilling that you love?  Have you used any of the sealants?  What are your observations?  I have many more posts like this coming!

Stick around and check out some of the other fun stuff on the blog!

Click here to view more free paper quilling tutorials!

Click here to view paper quilling tips and tricks!

Click here to view a list of places to buy quilling supplies around the world!

Click here to view some of my own quilling projects, with tips so you can make your own if you’d like!

*All products and supplies mentioned in this post I purchased and/or made on my own.

*This post contains some affiliate links, and some non affiliate links.  If you purchase products through the affiliate links I get a small percentage (at no extra cost to you!).  I only link to products that I believe in and/or love to use myself.  Thank you for supporting my blog!