After posting yesterday's info about the new Vintaj Patina Inks by Ranger I got lots of questions so I thought I'd post them here.
*The most asked question was about Ink dry times?
Of course this is going to vary depending on the temp, humidity and how thickly the ink was applied but in general it took about 15-25 minutes to dry naturally.
It was mentioned in the video that you could speed drying using the heat tool. I would caution you when doing so. The first time I tried to use the heat tool after about 35 seconds or so the inks started to bubble up and they did not go away after they appeared. You have to keep in mind you're heating metal not paper so the temps will rise quickly and hold the heat much more so than with paper, chipboard, etc. So I would say if you are going to use the heat tool I would suggest drying the ink in short bursts...no more than 20-25 seconds at a time, allow a bit of cooling time and heat again if necessary.
Now, that's not to say that the bubbles aren't cool under some circumstances but they can be unsightly on some designs.
Cure Time?
Although nobody asked about this subject in particular this is another aspect I discovered and wanted to point out about the inks. Even though the inks may be dry to the touch I noticed that thicker coats/areas need a longer cure time before they were more stable. What do I mean by that?
Well, you know I like to throurally test products to see how they will behave under various conditions. After my post last night I started trying to scrape the inks off the charms to see what would happen (approx 2 hours after applied). The thinner areas held very well but the thicker areas near the center scrapped right off with my fingernail. This morning however those areas had set pretty well and was much more difficult to scrape off nearly.
If you're not going to glaze the inks I would suggest thicker layers of ink need a cure time of 12 hours or so before you do too much handling.
Glaze Dry Time?
The Glaze dry time is a bit quicker than the inks. It only took about 5-8 minutes for thin layers of Glaze to dry on the inks. It's much thinner than Glossy Accents. I found that a few drops goes a long ways. The charms I used below are approx. 1.5" square and I used 4 drops (spread around with my finger) to cover the entire piece. I didn't attempt to use thicker coats of the Glaze but I'm sure those would take longer to dry.
Are the Vintaj Patinas similar to Alcohol Inks?
IMO - No, the inks are totally different. VP's are opaque, thicker and more like a paint than the the thin, translucent consistancy of the Alcohol Inks.
Clean up?
When wet the VP's can be cleaned up with a bit of water. After dry however it is a bit more difficult to remove. So if you're using a paint brush or get a bit of the ink on your work surface I suggest cleaning it up immediately before it has a chance to dry.
Complaints?
One thing I did notice was the inks/containers are a bit messy. It says on the bottle that you should shake them up until you hear the mixing balls rattle. Well, when you do so some the ink must shoot out the top because when you open it up there is a ring of the ink collected on the bottle and ink the lid.... I'm not exactly neat and tidy when I'm playing in inks (hence the name Ink Stains) but this really doesn't help me out any. Trust me, I had this stuff all over the place!
This is what the inks look like with the glaze over it. You can see that the color is intensified... if you look close you can see where I missed a few spots on the charm ~ the color difference really shows up there.
Blending -
Here is one of the silver charms that I blending the colors in the "weathered copper" set (Moss, Veridigris and Jade) along with a touch of Clay. Just a few dots of each blended with my finger.
Here is the same charm stamped and covered with a layer of Glaze.
Glaze as an extender....
And I wanted to try the Glaze as an extender. I mixed Cobalt and Marine with the Glaze....
Moved it around and blended with my finger tip.... and let it dry. I noticed that the colors blended VERY easily with the Glaze. There were also some streaks that were clear giving a marble effect to the finished tag. It's hard to see in the photos but it's easily visible in person.
I then stamped the dried inks, applied some of the Glaze and heated it to speed drying....
You can see in this photo - the lower left hand side of the charm where a few bubbles formed when I was heating. I did this intentionally since it was "clouds". I thought it might add some cool texture and it did.
And here are both of the finished charms....
I have to say the more I play with this the more I like it!
I can't wait until the next charm swap.
I'm thinkin these inks are going to play a big part in my charm making process!
