A Tale of Two Sealers

What I wanted:
1. To put words onto my art charms and jewelry.
2. To create jewelry that will stand up to the weather of the Pacific Northwest.

What I had to work with:
- images from my ink jet printer, sealed on front & back with JudiKins MicroGlaze
- 4 Scrabble tile art charms - 2 sealed with JudiKins Diamond Glaze and 2 sealed with clear acrylic spray sealant (either Rust-Oleum American Accents Clear Top Coat Matte or DecoArt Plastercraft Acrylic Matte Spray Finish)
- water


What I did:
- I took one of the Diamond Glaze-sealed Scrabble tile art charms and one of the clear acrylic spray-sealed art charms and put them outside in a driving rainstorm and left it overnight. (the outside art charms)
- I took the two remaining art charms, and got a drop of water on my finger and touched it to the center of the image on each art charm, placed the charms on a saucer on my kitchen table and allowed them to dry. (the inside art charms)

I'd heard that if Diamond Glaze turns milky if it gets a drop of water on it, but once the two inside art charms were dry, I couldn't see any difference on either from their original appearance.

Decided to REALLY get the inside art charms wet, so I ran them both under the kitchen tap and then placed them on the saucer on the table and allowed them to dry overnight.

The results:
The outside art charms were pretty much annihilated by the rain.

The image on the acrylic spray-sealed art charm didn't even want to stay attached to the Scrabble tile.

The image under the Diamond Glaze fared little better, even though it did (kind of) stay affixed to the Scrabble tile.

 As you can see, the image really bled and distorted (looks like the Diamond Glaze turned a bit milky as well), and you can tell it's lifting from the Scrabble tile along the right edge.

The inside art charms did much better.
The image on the acrylic spray-sealed art charm bled and distorted a little bit, most noticeably in the top left & right corners, and in the bottom left corner.

As you can see the Diamond Glaze-sealed art charm did the best - while the Diamond Glaze around the hole has risen up a bit, the image itself exhibits no bleeding of ink or distortion, and it is still firmly affixed to the Scrabble tile.