It's my first day!

So, here goes. It took me a while to find my own address. Oh well, I can always chalk it up to being more of an artist then a techy.
Now, Polymer clay, I love it. Time flies and I have to force myself to do anything else. This morning I wanted to finish a pendant. I foiled some clay, added a stamped design, baked, wrapped and rebaked. It was fine. Now, I like to use embossing powder, the Ultra Thick stuff, to add a top coat to the pendants. It has worked fine in the past. Today, I found the Ultra Thick and instead of using the clear, I used the pearl. Big mistake. I thought I would give it an irredescent shine. Instead it covered the pendant with a white pearl finish. Now mind you that could be ok sometimes but not today. I wanted to see the foil and the stamped image through the embossing powder. Live and learn. Now, I tried to fix it. Sanded it, reheated it. It did give me more of a see through effect but not clear. Too bad, I was happy with that one.
Now, another finished project that turned out better. I call it my Canadian Man. I cut clay in the shape of a maple leaf then cut out an oval from the center. Using an ivory cane I cut out another oval and added some clay to make a nose, eyebrows and a mouth. Sculpted it so it looks like a face. Installed the face in the hole in the leaf. Once baked and cooled, I carved a few lines in the leaf part then painted and removed with black acrylic paint. Looked nice. Using a silver leaf pen I painted the sides and the front with the silver pen. Lovely. Now the varnish is giving me a hard time. I get streaks on the back. It doesn't happen all the time but it's not the first time. I don't know what I'm doing wrong.