So, I made a mistake when buying inks. I bought Distressed Archival inks paying more attention to the word "distress" rather than "archival." What I wanted was to blend inks, making a gradient between the colors. But, archival implies waterproof, or at a minimum, water resistant...and these inks are more for stamping clear, crisp images that resist smudging. These Archival inks will not go to waste, though! I re-brought some more Distress Inks...this time the Distress Oxide. With a bit of water activation and using a blending tool, I was able to get the blended look I was after. When the Distress Oxides are sprayed with water, some of the ink comes up, revealing the color below. And, these inks blend well. I should have went straight in for the Distress Oxides, water reactive inks rather than the Archival. This was a lesson learned, the hard way; and a reminder to research before purchasing! - Pretty much anything with "archival" on it is for crisp, clean lines...for stamping clear images. - Water proof and water resistant may not blend as well, especially if these are dye based inks (think Sharpie pen like). - Pay attention to, and look for key words such as water resistant/proof, water based, and water reactive. So, I have some question for you: 1. Do you have favorite inks? And if yes, why? What do they do? 2. Do you have any mixed media lessons learned you would like to share (ink based or not)?
Most of my ink pads are still from my Stampin' Up card making days. They are all of the water blendy-able type, not archival. I also bought some ink sprays near the beginning of my art journaling exploration and I HATE them for art journaling. Those were the Dylusions ink sprays by Ranger. You cannot paint over them without them bleeding through. No matter how many times you paint or gesso over them, they bleed through every time. I mean I guess that could be fun if you wanted that, but I was usually trying to layer over them and not have them bleed through. My favorite ink pad for art journaling is the Staz-on kind. I only have black and brown, but once you stamp with that stuff it is permanent! I never realized that the archival ones by Tim Holtz were like that. It would be fun to have some other colors to play with! I have a jillion stamps in my stash, so it would be fun to pull them out just to play. I've also been know to just smear acrylic paint on my stamps to get them to stay put and so I could paint over the layers.
I do like sprays....and converted some alcohol inks over to spray bottles. But I will admit, of all my more recent purchases, the alcohol inks are my least favorite. And, I have ruined a few pieces by adding inks to them. The dye based inks are very powerful (they remind me of black sharpies). They may bleed and are difficult to cover up for that layering effect, like you said. Trial and error! With lots and lots of errors! Good to know about the Dylusions. They come in lots and lots of pretty colors. I YouTubed some techniques...I "see" what you mean about gesso or paints not covering them. You'd have to know that that color (or its likeness) is almost always going to come through. Can be cool - but could also ruin a piece.
I need to catch up with this part of the forum.... taking the time now that Sarita is helping me with reading.... do we still have Bart in need of loving?
Ranger's Archival inks are fantastic for crisp stamping, especially fine lines and small words. I love distress oxides and they are my most used stamps, but probably because I have a large collection of them. They blend so nicely. I prefer these over the Distress Inks since I like to blend them. I also really like Altenew's stamps and they are good for crisp fine lines and have a huge range of colors - wonderful for tones and stamp layering. PaperPerson's (kelly purkey) stamps are a fav as well, but I don't think they are sold anymore. I tend to prefer dye inks for the most part as they don't need a drying time and give me a cleaner stamp. I'm not a fan of the "juicer" pigment ink pads. ETA: don't know why I kept saying stamps and not ink pads! my chronic tiredness is showing, lol!!!
I love distress oxides for the blendability as well. I also love my pink fresh stamps. The color range is amazing and it is equal as blendable. I've had a lot of fun using these particular inks on my gelli plate with some water and it has created some cool water color effects.
The only inks I have are Distressed Oxide. I love em! I have to get back to working on my hybrid - I've been so busy with the vow renewal that I didn't have the time to get it out and clean up AND actually do something!!
I am going to get to play with this brand very, very, very soon...thanks to @mywisecrafts Esther who had some extras and sent them my way!!!! Now, if only I can get some crafting time in!
I totally know what you mean. I think many folks went digital because it is faster! But yes, when you can, break out those ink pads!!! I am new to the Oxides and I am IN LOVE with them!!!! Can't wait to see what you create. And congratulations on your special day - the 25th year vow renewal and anniversary!
I love altenew as well. I love that their colors are consistent across mediums--meaning between alcohol markers and stamps. I also don't like the real juicy inks for my ink pads. I have liquid water color when I need a juicier look or just want to make a bigger mess!
My favorite inks are Catherine Pooler. Only Midnight (her black) is archival which is perfect for certain things but the rest are great for blending and even doing watercolor techniques. They are foam pad stamps and are dreamy to work with!
I used to love the distressing inks back when I was a paper scrapper. Love the dimensionality they could bring to paper edges and embellishments. I use stamps and inks now some on my planner and so I usually go for the waterproof kinds. If you have kids, I definitely recommend a small bottle of walnut ink too -- we used that stuff countless times mixed with water in a spray bottle to make "old" documents for school projects!
This is a dangerous thread. Now I am ogling those Catherin Pooler ink bundles...the colors!!!! As if I need more art supplies
Ooh, I didn't know about the Distress Archival Inks. I do have Distress and Distress oxides and like working with them. Would be great to have some of the colours in archival, so I can combine blended backgrounds with clear stamped images and texts. Not a big fan of spray inks, some bleed through, others are super sticky, bottles get clogged or they spray gets everywhere. My favorite right now are Ecoline watercolor inks. I have them in dropper top bottles and markers. They are very versatile and the colours are beautifully vibrant.
My favorite inks are CTMH. I have had them for 10 years and they still work great without reinking. They also produce crisp images. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Exactly! So although I was looking to blend...I know I can use Archivals too...because sometimes one wants a stamped image to "remain." I have not played yet, so I do not know what the drying time is for the ink - or how it interacts in mixed media fashion. So to much to play with and learn!
