This stuff, called "E'Tal," is a backing material for bead embroidery that comes in metallic colors, and is supposedly made with real metal bonded to some sort of backing fabric. It's available
As a comparison, I've used Lacy's Stiff Stuff, various brands of heavy duty interfacing and oaktag (file folder paper) to use as backing for my beaded embroidery projects. I like Lacy's Stiff Stuff, but don't like the price, so I usually use two layers of interfacing bonded together with fusible webbing.
The stuff arrived a few days after I ordered (the site takes Paypal, which is a plus in my book), and I got a better look at the material. I have no complaints at all about Charlene or the Beady Boop site, the service was just fine.
I ordered the gold E'Tal, which is now listed on the site as Bronze/Gold, which is a much better description. It's much more bronze than gold, and looks for all the world like Tyvek (the stuff Fed Ex envelopes are made of) lightly sprayed with metallic spray paint. I was underwhelmed by its appearance, to say the least, but I was determined to give the stuff a real trial, and not blow it off just because I don't really like the way it looks.
I did my usual thing: gluing a cabochon to the interfacing, beading around it with backstitch, nothing fancy. My method of beaded embroidery is not ideal for this material, looking at the few finished projects on the site: I don't leave a lot of unbeaded space on my projects. Even considering that, I don't think I'd like the look of spray-painted Tyvek peering out from around my beads.
As far as the weight and usability of the material goes, it's perfectly functional. If you like Lacy's Stiff Stuff, you'll like this stuff. It is easy to poke with needles, doesn't rip, and has all those good qualities. It is a little bit thinner than Lacy's S.S. (I'm getting tired of writing that name over and over) It is easier to work with than non-woven interfacing, which tends to get scruffy looking with handling. OTOH, it's significantly more expensive than interfacing. The one material it beats by miles is oaktag, but that wouldn't be very hard.
The beadyboop site has more colors and information than when I bought the stuff a couple of weeks ago, which may change my opinion slightly. Apparently, one can use heat to shape the material to create dimensional features. That would be a benefit to me: I could bead a piece while flat, then mold it around a shape and heat it. I don't know if the shape change is permanent, I'll have to do a little more experimenting.
But for now, I'd say don't bother. The material doesn't add a lot of value to a heavily beaded piece, and isn't good looking enough to just partially bead as an embellishment. My original thought was to use this stuff as the background to a broad collar and leave a good deal of the gold surface showing. I can't do that, the material looks too cheap for that - a lot of the white base material shows through the paint.. It doesn't add a lot of reflection to transparent beads, but changes the reflected color slightly.
The about.beads site raves about the material, but I just don't see the attraction. If anyone else has tried this stuff, I'd love to hear about it.
Your intrepid reporter,
Kathy N-V