WOYWW #450

Right I'm Back!lol. MIA last week, so I'm here again to link up with Julia at The Stamping Ground for another tour of Desk Duty.I was doing some colouring in my books last week, and after dumping a lot of felts and markers that had run out/dried up, I ended up using some coloured pencils in an Art set from WHSmiths I'd been bought as a Christmas pressie a few years ago. I actually found I enjoyed the pencils much more than I expected, plus you don't get the bleed through issues you get with some markers, so I invested in a set of Prismacolours from Amazon.  I've been watching You Tube videos on blending & shading with them, and they seemed about the best at a reasonable price point.

I also bought another couple of Christmas stencils from Sweet Poppy in their  sale, I was very taken with the bauble one, as I'd seen some Christmas Cards  made using a rubber stamp in the same sort of lay out. I think these will look amazing done with the foil & laminator technique.

I'm actually starting to feel more like crafting, now that I seem to finally be getting beyond this blasted cold/cough/chest infection.

So much so, I have three new cards put together, the top one just needing a sentiment. I shall stamp a greeting onto cardstock and die cut, as I really should have done any heat embossing before the gluing down stage!
 Mind you, maybe I'm making work for myself- they don't have to be heat embossed really.



A quick bit of back info on things mentioned in the past few weeks- first, the Groovi Grip. I've put this onto my rulers now, and also onto my Stix2 layering thingy. It works like a dream, the ruler stays put with just the slightest pressure from your fingers. I also discovered it's not actually sticky, it's a static cling. So once you smooth it down, it stays put, but if you want to take it off, there's no icky residue to get rid of.
Second, the Versafine Clair Fallen Leaves Brown. I emailed Tsukineko, and told them what I was seeing, and asked if I had a faulty pad.

This was the response I got, admittedly very fast, in fact the next day. 

To inform you the conclusion, the Fallen Leaves you bought is not a faulty pad.

 The Fallen Leaves is blackish dark brown and when there is a lot of ink on the pad, it look blackish.

Especially when you just opened the pad, there is plenty of the ink on the pad, it may look more blackish.

 And, it may affect the color a little depend on the type of paper you use.

 The color sample of the labelling on the Fallen Leaves is not exactly the same as actual color.

 We appreciate for  your understanding and hope to continue to choose our TSUKINEKO products for years to come.

 So I replied, as this didn't really address the issue I had, which wasn't the colour of the inkpad, but rather the colour it stamped out at. I also asked if they were planning to put a colour chart on the website.

 

Thank you for your email and precious opinion.

 We will pass your opinion to our product development department and take your opinion into account in the case of next product development.

 As to the website, we are planning to add the color chart of Versafine Clair, but the details such as time has not been decided yet.

 Thank you and best regards,

I  have to wonder if they have had this ink tested by stampers before release. I still don't see any brown in it at all. I did email Lavinia Stamps, to let them know what I was seeing, in case anyone else had a problem. They tested it out and agreed that yes, it does not look brown at all, although they could get a brown impression with a second generation print. I think it may need to be coated cardstock, as on my bog standard plain card, I'm not seeing that.

 Talking of ink, another Black ink that may interest people.

When I did the TH workshop, he mentioned the 4 colour Archival inkpads the designers had all brought out. He said that in his, the black part of the pad wasn't the original Black Archival, but in fact a Black Soot Archival. He also said it wasn't available as a separate pad- won't be surprised to see that change in the near future- but that you could buy a blank Archival inkpad, and an Archival Black Soot reinker, and make your own. From the demo he showed us, the original Archival Black has clear Purplish tones, which the Black Soot doesn't have. So, it was out of stock for quite a while at Art from the Heart, but I now have one, and will be inking it up and testing it out soon.

 Had the follow up from the scan, and they seem happy enough. They're happy it's not grown, and may be smaller, so they will monitor it and I get another scan in 3 months.

And finally.........................