Friday 4 November 2011

Inks and things.More to follow next week

Hoping this helps the Portsmouth ladies.

Ink’s, stamping and all the bits you will need.

Ok so here we go as promised all the info I can come up with for Docraft related stamping products. Remember this is my opinion and not necessarily the opinion of others.
There are several different types of ink
1. Dye based ink: They dry very quickly and are O.K. to use with papermania watercolour pens. They can also be used to distress (foof) the edge. This will give a sharp finish.
2. Fluid chalk inks: These can be used for stamping or for distressing (foofing) the edges of your cards. They dry quickly and leave a soft image.
3. Pigment inks: These are best used with your heat gun. They do not dry very quickly and sometimes never dry properly on your card. You can just heat set or add embossing powder.
My recommendation is you call your heat gun a pig this will remind you to use it with your pigment inks.
4. Use your papermania watercolour pens to colour rubber stamps just remember to huff on them to refresh the ink before stamping.

There are lots of other inks out there and you can research there uses on the internet.

Stamps there are thousands of them and they come in different formats.
Achieving a good clear image is all about practice and a stack of copy paper is great for this. When I get a new stamp I always stamp it onto the copy paper first so I can see how it stamps. Sometimes you may need to add a little extra pressure on an area this will help. If you don’t get a clear image try putting a mouse mat under the card.

1. Rubber wood backed stamps they give a crisp image and can be inked with any ink. Storage can be a problem. However they can be removed from the block and used with an acrylic block. Stick them to the block with stick it glue stick and clean up with baby wipes.
2. Clear Stamps these are great as they stick to an acrylic block and you can see the card stock through the stamp so allowing you to stamp in the exact place you want. Unlike a rubber stamp. Don’t push too hard as the image will be distorted. Storage is fab as they are so flat and they are cheaper to buy.
3. Urban stamps. The best of both worlds the storage is great as they are flat. The image is crisp. No worrying about pushing to hard.
Acrylic blocks come in several different sizes if I was buying one I would buy a big one you can always balance the block with smaller stamps in the corner of the block.

Clean your stamps if you must ( I love Tim Holtz) with alcohol free baby wipes.
I do clean my stamps if I am going to use a colour other than black, but as I normally use black I don’t bother.

Heat gun or as I call it the pig will always need to be used with pigment ink. You can sprinkle embossing powder over the image and heat making sure the gun is about 2” from the card stock. A good weight of card is essential to prevent warping. If you are going to do this on a cutting mat make sure there is a stack of paper under the card to prevent warping of the board or excessive heat on the glass mat.

If you have any questions please ask and I will try and find out the answer.
For questions about non Docraft products please go to my other blog were I will upload more info
Thanks Di

1 comment:

Crafty Loops said...

Fantastic review Di, thank you. Lee x