When All Else Fails...

Y'all, there have been hours of effort expending trying to create a video post on ink issues, and truly, the frustration level is off the charts. I really want to get this figured out, but things are getting busy with Ironman Wisconsin approaching. So we're stuck with the old-fashioned written post with pictures to illustrate my point, which will end up taking a fifth of the time I've spent trying to get the video together. I'm just not good, people.

*sigh*

Anyway, here's the problem: light shades of fast-drying pigment inks simply won't dry. A reader had this problem with one of the Impress Fresh Inks last year and never was able to get a satisfactory resolution (that I know of). I wasn't having a problem then, but when I purchased a bunch of light shades earlier this year, boy, howdy did I have the same experience she had.

If two of us are having issues, then it's likely more of you are as well. So let's crowdsource this problem, and perhaps those of us having problems will have solutions instead! Thanks in advance to anyone who can help us!

Please note that OTHER colors in all three lines of ink (Avery Elle, Mama Elephant, and Impress Fresh Ink) dry just fine for me, and I actually love them immoderately. But here are the colors that don't. 

Aren't these colors AWESOME! I thought so, too, until they started giving me fits.

These images were stamped three days ago, and as you can see in the photo of my finger, they are not dry. A chalky residue comes off with even the slightest touch on all the inks. Every. Single. One. The lightest colors smear faintly on the paper, but the pool, island, pixie smear obviously.

Know that I tried heat-setting these inks, with a 20-second blast from the heat gun on each image, and that made absolutely no difference. There are pieces I stamped with these inks over six weeks ago that are still. not. dry.

The only solution I've found that works is to spray a finished piece with Krylon Matte Finish fixative. I dislike this for several reasons. First, it's toxic and must be sprayed in a well-ventilated area. I took my card outside and sprayed it, but a bug flew across the spray, stuck to the card, and left bug residue on the front, ruining it. Ugh. I'm sure the bug wasn't happy, either.

Second, spraying cardstock, even with a very fine spray, will warp the paper. This isn't a deal-killer, but the toxicity and bug residue sure are.

The manufacturers suggested that I was over-inking the stamps, but I disagree. The other colors of the inks dry just fine the way I ink them, and when I experimented with inking less than I usually do, poor quality images resulted...and also never dried.

The manufacturers also suggested that the paper was to blame. I disagree here as well, although with qualifications. My paper-of-choice is Papertrey Ink's stampers select white, which is a porous, uncoated card stock with great absorbency and drying time for every other ink I've ever used on it. If I were using a coated cardstock, I'd agree with the manufacturer; in my experience, inks dry slowly and sometimes not at all on coated card stock. But Papertrey white isn't coated. Neither, to my knowledge, is Neenah solar white, which I also tried, with exactly the same messy results as the Papertrey.

The manufacturers also suggested heat embossing, which I tried, and it worked. Unfortunately, the quality of embossing was disappointing. The ink is chalky but not very sticky, which means the powder didn't stick evenly, and results were blotchy and unpleasant. It's hard to see in the picture, but trust me.

So let's recap.
1. These inks don't dry for me on Papertrey's cardstock or the Neenah solar white.
2. They don't dry for me when heat-set on porous cardstock.
3. I'm not over-inking the stamps.
4. Heat embossing doesn't work well for me.
5. Sealing with a fixative does work, but it's a pain in the patootie and toxic to boot.  

What might be going on here?

To my mind, there are several variables that could be at work here. First, it could be chemistry. The lighter pigments might require formulas that affect drying. This seems possible to me because, as I stated above, other colors of inks in all three lines work great for me without chalky residue.

Second, and less likely, is that these six ink pads are defective. If it were only one or two pads, I'd say this is a possibility, but six pads from three different manufacturers? Not likely.

Third, there might be something environmental at work, perhaps humidity. This summer has been oddly humid here in southwest Ohio. Furthermore, my stamp area is in my walk-out basement. I do run a large dehumidifier nonstop in the basement, but it's not powerful enough to work over the whole large space. Basements are just naturally more humid. Perhaps when winter chill sets in and humidity drops with forced-air heat, matters will improve. But I don't want to wait. I want answers NOW!

*petulant toddler stomping her feet*

There has to be a solution.

If I'm having this problem, perhaps you are as well. And if you're using these inks and NOT having problems, those of us who are having problems would LOVE to hear from you!

What are you doing? What is the climate where you live? What brand and weight of paper are you using? How much ink are you putting on the stamps compared to other colors?

If you are able, please make some suggestions to help us poor, lost souls who just want to make subtle-colored cards! I would be willing to buy a new cardstock or move to the desert. This summer's humidity has been just awful.

And seriously, thank you in advance for your help.

Inspired by Soap Packaging, Part 2

Note: Yesterday's post was for the September One-Layer Simplicity Challenge #31, Back in Time. I hope you'll play along this month. It was so much fun!

Back to soap packaging. This photo on Pinterest was so inspiring!

Source

Today's card takes advantage of the layout in the butterfly package on the top right.

One thing we based the OLS Challenge on is the notion that clean-and-simple cardmaking is in the details. When you pay attention to the little things, good design happens. In this case, a very simple design gets elevated by adding two gold elements: the centers of the poinsettias and the gold border.

This card was okay without the gold, but adding those touches really makes me happy. The poinsettia centers were added with a metallic gold gel pen, and the edging with my handy Prismacolor gold metallic broad-tip pen.

Whenever your design seems a tad blah, start looking around in your stash for supplies to add a touch of wonderful!

Supplies
stamps: Hero Arts
ink: Impress mojito, Memento Luxe love letter
paper: Papertrey
accessories: gold gel pen, Prismacolor metallic gold marker, craft foam, glue

One-Layer Simplicity #31: Back in Time

We interrupt my two-part soap-packaging inspiration post with something that has me so excited!

Welcome to September and the new OLS Challenge! This month our host is the always amazing Ardyth, and she's asking us to go back in time...either with a retro or vintage card or by using clocks or time as a theme.

So many fun ways to play!

I went vintage with a new Hero Arts Christmas set called Holly Days, and I made a postcard rather than a card...which says vintage to me.

While this is clearly my CAS style, there are a number of things that say vintage to me. First, the holly stamp has a realistic look, but I colored it in vintage turquoise, olive, and an orange-y red using an aqua brush. To paint the leaves, I used SU tempting turquoise, and before that dried, I added SU old olive. The effect makes me so happy!

Second, the fact that it's a postcard takes me back in time. Do people even send many postcards anymore? I've only received two in the past ten years or so. But my grandparents' scrapbooks are FULL of postcards. And many of them have deckle edges and antique gold borders. Deckle scissors? Check. Antique gold ink? Not so much. Delicata is a very shiny yellow gold...but I got close. It's gold.

Third, a lot of vintage cards have white glitter on them. With my yellow-gold border, white glitter seemed odd, but I wanted to incorporate something glittery on the berries. Well, Jasleen made a card for the OLS30 challenge, and she used a Wink of Stella clear pen to blend her watercolors. That gave me the idea of picking up some gold Delicata ink with the Wink of Stella pen and put it on the berries.

Oh, my! Perfect! Thanks to Jasleen, the gold sentiment, berries, and border create a lovely, unified card.

Or postcard.

Ardyth's OLS challenge is so much fun! Give it a try. Remember that the InLinkz button will be good through September 24th at midnight, and multiple entries are allowed.

Join us!


Supplies
stamps: Hero Arts, unknown postcard
ink: Hero Arts cup o' joe, Delicata gold, Kaleidacolor (orange-red), StampinUp old olive and turquoise
paper: watercolor paper
accessories: deckle scissors, Wink of Stella clear pen, aqua brush, sponge

Inspired by Soap Packaging, Part 1

It's always fun to see something on Pinterest and immediately feel inspired to make cards. This photo has so much goodness in it!

Source

The first card I made uses the layout of the beehive package (far left), with the cute little bees randomly buzzing around. In my version, they become red snowflake polka dots. Don't ask me why. My muse said red, so I went red.

Now, initially, I'd stamped the red dots onto the tree as well, as ornaments. But when you stamp red pigment ink over green dye ink, the results look rather drab and brown. So how to fix it? Well, I figured gold beads would make better ornaments; in addition, the panel needed some sort of border. With the gold metallic border, the gold beads look intentional rather than stuck on as an afterthought to cover a boo-boo.

I'm not bothered by the unrealistic color of the snowflakes (or, as I think of them, polka dots), but perhaps some literalists find it disturbing. If so, they might find tomorrow's card more sensibly colored.

Supplies
stamps: Clearly Besotted Tiny Trees, Hero Arts Holiday Greetings, My Favorite Things Party Patterns (the green blob)
ink: Memento love letter, rich cocoa; Ranger Archival leaf green
paper: Papertrey white
accessories: gold half beads, gold Prismacolor marker

Abundant Thanks

When thanking someone, it's good to be abundant, lavish, generous.

See?

Silver beads decorating a red tree. Silver border around the stamped panel...which isn't popped up on craft foam because the beads add enough dimension. Oh, yes. Abundant holiday thanks.

Do you make holiday-themed thank-you cards? It's a good idea, plus you get even more use from your holiday stamps!

Supplies
stamps: Penny Black (tree), Papertrey (sentiment)
ink: Hero Arts red royal
paper: Papertrey white
accessories: silver half-beads in two sizes, silver PrismaColor metallic marker, glue

Stepping Up a Design

Y'all know that minimalist design makes my heart happy, but I also understand that my level of minimalism makes some people twitchy. So after I made today's first card, I decided to experiment with stepping up the design a bit. You be the judge.

First up, the super-minimalist card. Two birds in red, a sentiment in black...nothing else needed to convey the point. The red birds pop right off the card, and aren't they just lovely! They are from Clearly Besotted's Paired Up, and the sentiment is from Papertrey's Beautiful Butterflies.

I like this design. It's clean and minimalist and LateBlossom-y. But when I stepped it up a notch, several changes took place.

First, I changed the sentiment (an old PSX wood-mounted stamp) and placed the birds asymmetrically. This creates far more movement in the second design. That looked good, but my placement was slightly too high on the card for it to remain one layer, so I cut off the bottom off the front of the card, edged it with a black sharpie, and added a punched border.

The red card stock and ink actually match much better in real life, but the card stock looks darker in the photo.

I liked the first card well enough before I made the second one. There's just so much fun movement in the second one that really appeals to me. Still, if I were to give one of these two to my husband for our anniversary, I'd give him the first. When I asked his opinion, he really hated the "crap on the bottom of the second card," although he preferred the bird placement and sentiment of the second.

Which do you prefer?

Supply
stamps: Clearly Besotted, Papertrey, PSX
ink: Hero Arts intense black, red royal
paper: Papertrey white, StampinUp real red
accessories: border punch (Martha Stewart), black sharpie

The Definition of Insanity, and Ink Issues Meet Crowd Sourcing

Y'all may have heard that the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results. Well, by that definition, I'm bat-guano crazy. Why do I keep buying layering stamps? Seriously?!?!? This time, results were slightly more satisfying than in the past, but basically, I'm not teachable.

Here's my first card with Hero Arts Color Layers Seahorse set. There's so much to talk about here regarding product, but before we get off on my little whine-fest, please know that this layout was totally inspired by a card in the brand new Take Ten, page 27, by Shannon Slessman. Thank you, Shannon. Any and all failures of this card are mine alone. (But really, I love the idea and the layout!)

And before I get started, let me say that I know a MISTI would help with the layered stamping. I'm just not prepared to buy one for myself at this time. Perhaps for my birthday, along with a bunch of Ranger Archival ink. But we shall see.

The color layering of the seahorse and the other stamps in this set is somewhat easier than with other sets I've purchased, though as you can see from the close-up, it's not perfect. It is, however, good enough for government work. I practiced a lot before stamping this and found that stamping the middle layer first, then the light layer, and then the detail layer works best for me. The seahorse is also easier because it has an eye...which gives you a clear reference for the two darker layers.

The colors here are, from light to dark, Hero Arts tide pool, ocean, and deep ocean. Great combo!

Now, about deep ocean. This ink is from Hero's new hybrid ink line, and I'm not sold. The color is AWESOME, but the watercolor stripe above and below the focal-point panel was stamped with it, and as you can see, the image quality is appalling. It handled the details of the seahorse just fine, but on a large, solid block stamp, it's blotchy and uneven. And the stamp, from Papertrey's Watercolor Wonders, is a much used, well-seasoned stamp, so I doubt we can blame the stamp.

I have several colors of this hybrid ink (moss, green apple, tangerine, aquatic, and deep ocean), and they all do this. Very frustrating. So I got the idea today that it might be the paper. Papertrey white, which I use about 98% of the time. is porous and absorbent card stock. I tried to stamp deep ocean with the same stamp on Gina K's deluxe white, which is a coated card stock. The results were definitely better.

While not as even as one might hope, it's at least not blotchy and has good coverage of the paper. I imagine this hybrid ink would work great on coated paper with outline images or more finely detailed images. I need to put some time into exploring this. Any of you who've used the Hero Arts hybrids are encouraged to weigh in on this. Any and all help is very appreciated.

This points out one big issue with ink: individual results WILL vary. Ink performance depends on so many things...type of paper, amount of inking and pressure of stamping, humidity.

I'm going to do a post on some other inks that aren't working for me (trying to do a video post...not sure I'm cut out for video). Communication with manufacturers hasn't yielded any good ideas, so I'm going to throw it out there for you all. I KNOW I'm not the only person having problems with some of these inks, and I also know that there are people out there having good luck with them.

Perhaps we can bring these two groups together and troubleshoot the issues via this here blog o' mine.

This post has been a tad whiny, and I don't like that. There are much better things to whine about in the world...human trafficking, children going to bed hungry, war, genocide, racism...etc. Layered stamping, ink, and image quality rank pretty low on the list.

Speaking of which, my husband just told me that you can buy flamethrowers and napalm online. I'm filing this tidbit of knowledge under "Signs of the Coming Apocalypse."

So let's end on a happy note. Here's my haul of stamps from orders placed earlier this week. Because I love the smell of new photopolymer in the morning.

Supplies
stamps: Hero Arts Color Layer Seahorse, Papertrey Watercolor Wonder
ink: Hero Arts
paper: Papertrey white
accessories: rhinestones