A warm welcome to all my visitors,

Thank you for taking the time to come and look at my blog, I really do appreciate it. I would love you to leave me a comment, even if it’s just to say Hi. It means I can come visit you!

All my designs are original, so copyrighted to me. If I have been inspired by someone elses work, I have named them in the post, and where able, I have provided a link.

Please feel free to use my designs for inspiration, I just ask you to credit me, and provide a link back to my blog.

Thanks, Shaz XX

Monday 20 January 2014

A return to the White Inkpad question

Quite a while ago, I did a post on white inkpads- I wanted to make some white on black cards at the time. It came down to having to stamp in Versamark, then heat emboss with white embossing powder to get a nice white image.
My original project
I tried a couple of white inks I have, including white Staz-on, which I have to say I hate. Even the Brilliance Moonlight white didn't give me a  very good image. Original post here.
 So, a few weeks before Christmas, the subject of white inkpads came up on SCS (Splitcoast Stampers) in a forum thread. People were raving about a newish inkpad,by Studio G. One very lovely and generous contributor offered to send me one in the mail, as I couldn't find it available over here. It arrived this week, along with a second one, by Hampton Art, the rubber stamp people.
 I've given them both a tryout, both embossed and unembossed, and heres what they look like.

 The first one I tried was the Hampton Art pad. Both are a pigment ink, by the way. I tried them out on black card, and I used a sentiment stamp for the first tryout. It gives a lovely thick coating on the stamp, and really looks white.



Then the Studio G inkpad- again a nice coating on the stamp, and it also looks really white.


 So here they are stamped on black card, side by side for comparison:


 Neither one is heat set or embossed here, just as is. I think the Studio G just has the edge here, but only just.






Now I thought I'd try a more detailed image, and heat emboss with clear powder.
I'd be happy with either image, but in this one, I think the Hampton Art inkpad just takes it.
 Strange. Both on the same piece of black card, both using red rubber stamps, it seems the heat embossing just gives the Hampton Art one a little edge.
 So now, I had to see what I would get with white embossing powder.
And what you get depends a great deal on your embossing powder- the top two are embossed with Stamp'N'Stuff Detail white, and its not as white as you'd expect. More a creamy buttermilk sort of colour. The middle one is using Heat It Up Seafoam White, and again, not very white.
 The best result came with WOW! Bright White Super Fine embossing powder.
All in all, they both give a nice white image on dark cardstock, either embossed or not. They both dry without heat setting- by the time I'd done the others, the original un-heat embossed were both dry. Also, the ink wipes off the stamps easily just with a baby wipe. Having had another search, there are still no signs of either pad being available over here- seems they are both only available in the USA.

5 comments:

Shaz in Oz.CalligraphyCards said...

ah Shaz have found the Studio G on eBay here, at $1.99 cube available from US, post is killer.... but have put watch on it!! :D

... as find white hard to use successfully, so agree with Staz-on white!
... that was waste of money.
I use Tsukino chalk Versa-mark cloud white myself.
... but have to do about three practise stamps on black, before getting it to work satisfactorily then not too bad.
So this maybe a help and the Hampton one only available in US or on Amazon but dont use it..
Shaz in Oz.x

Julia Dunnit said...

Fascinating post shaz! absolutely fascinating. I need to get looking too...real white is so hard to find that either of these would be good..I'd like one of each in my collection I must say..the difference in the embossing is extraordinary considering the un-embossed result.

Anonymous said...

So very glad you do these experiments for us Shaz :) I have wasted so much time and money on white ink pads that I emboss in white ep now and have given up looking for a nice, bright white ink pad!! Amazing difference though between the different ep. Another colour ink pad I am struggling with is a good gold, I find Brilliance Galaxy Gold too wishy washy. And the other ones I've tried tend to be more yellow than gold. Have you found a decent gold?
Many thanks Shaz
Lynn xx

Rossella said...

Thanks Shaz
Rosie x

Princess Judy Palmer said...

Thank you for confessing to your hate of the Staz On pad. I thought I was the only one. It is funny that white EP varies so much from company to company. I do know what you mean by the buttermilk color. I used to that one and it made me sad that it wasn't really white. I have a hard time with white ink pads too and usually just use Versafine with white EP (A Muse Studio's) or I come up with some other design to avoid it all together. Anyway, interesting findings. I didn't know Hampton Arts was still around.

An End of an era

An end of an era

I write this with a broken heart, that only time can heal My beautiful, wonderful wifelet Shaz (Silverwolf) passed away peacefully in the ea...