Organise Your Neons! VersaColour Inks & the Perfect Swatch Stamp

When Paula Pascal designed the Ink Pad Swatch Stamp Set I have been itching to try it out and after getting the new Tsukineko Versacolor ink pads, this seemed too good an opportunity to miss! 

This ingenious stamps set allows you to create beautiful and informative swatches for all your ink pads, in a way that helps us crafters know what our ink pads do but also in a way that works for us.

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Ink Pad Swatch Stamp Set

A bit about the stamp set. 

It is A6 in size and made from high quality red rubber. It comes pre-mounted too on cushion foam which means it will cling to our stamp blocks or platforms straight away - definite billy bonus! Also you can rearrange the different parts of the stamp set to make the kind of ink pad swatch that works for us. That to me was really liberating as it means I have a set of swatches now that I have designed using the elements Paula has designed - I do hope that makes sense?

I stamped my swatch onto white super smooth cardstock and then used a variety of techniques to showcase the neon ink's characteristics. I tried blending, layering, watering colouring, stamping delicate sentiment stamps as well as silhouette stamps and if they would work with heat embossing to demonstrate the versatility of each colour.

Don't forget to check out my short reel on YouTube 

to see how I created my own swatch design.

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This project was not only fun and informative, (made me realise the inkpads could do more than I thought), but it also created a beautiful and organised reference for my ink pad collection in a way that worked for me. I highly recommend the Ink Pad Swatch Stamp Set to any crafter who wants to explore the full potential of their ink pads.

What I discovered about the new Neon VersaColor ink pads 

Heat embossing: they are perfect for this technique because of how long they stay wet. It even worked when I had blended my inks together through a stencil and then added embossing powder.

Layered blending: using a blending foam, the colours worked beautifully and created deep rich layered colours.

Once the ink was dry, I could then watercolour my stamped images with any water colouring medium.

Water colouring: whilst the ink was wet, I could pull the colour out with water and a damp brush. Also, I could add water to create a rich, deep opaque water colour.

Stamping: the new colours worked perfectly with solid stamps, delicate sentiment stamps and images too.

Alcohol Markers: VersaColor is not suitable for working with alcohol markers because it makes our stamped outline move.

Extra testing: I have also tested the ink pads out on my Gelli plate and also to make a Japanese themed card - nod to the origin of where the ink pads are made. These will be in future blog posts.

Need to do next: I use my pencils a huge amount for my colouring and that was one thing I have yet to test with the inks. Not sure why I didn't as pencils play a large part in my colouring and I use various different kinds from wax based to water colour.

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What are my next steps?

Now I need to do this with all my different ink pads as I have a few that I don't really use as much as I should because I'm not sure how or what to use them on or what they work best on - Stazon, VersaCraft to name two! Also going to repeat the process on different substrates too: vellum, acetate, coated card, watercolour card, kraft card, black card ... ! 

Why different substrates? Sometimes we blame ourselves when things do not work and 7 times out of 10, it is that we have picked the wrong items to work together. Increasing our knowledge means we don't waste our products or our crafting time.

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Do you do swatches with your ink pads? Would love to hear about your tips & techniques too? 

Also, being nosy now, how do you store your ink pad swatches? I have mine on huge ring things hanging from a rack and that does work as I can see them but the storage freak in me, wonders if there is another way!

Will leave you in peace now as this is a long blog post, which I hoped you have enjoyed and I can't wait to show you my other projects using the Tsukineko VersaColor neon ink pads - don't forget to follow so you know when those blog posts land.

Until next time, take care,

Lou
xxx

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