Testing, testing......

I have seen a lot on the craft pages recently about the latest fad for ink brushes - and also that many of the big crafting names are bringing out branded versions and selling them for huge amounts of money eg a pack of 4 different sizes for £12 compared to a pack of 12 different sizes for £13 on Amazon; or 8 brushes with a stand for £48!!!  I decided to try out a cheaper version from Amazon at £15 for 12 brushes that are the same size, and wanted to compare them with what I currently use: blocks of cut and dry for my Distress Inks, and the small round applicator for my Distress Oxides.

    

I decided to test the brushes with both my Distress Inks and my Distress Oxides, and on two surfaces - CC white stamping card and Faber Castell Mixed Media pad.  I also chose some of the colour combinations suggested recently on Betz Golden's blog post: 10 Distress Colours for 10 Perfect Color Blends.

   

I started with Candied Apple, Rusty Hinge and Abandoned Coral, using Distress Ink on Stamping Card with the brushes. 

  

I have to admit that I was not immediately impressed, as I was finding it difficult to build up the colour with the brush. Now, this may be because they were new and didn't already have ink on them, but I resorted to going back to my cut and dry foam for the rest of this one. I never wash my cut and dry as I have a piece for each ink colour - something I started doing when I used to demo.  

  

I sprayed my craft mat and mopped up some of the remaining ink onto mixed media paper.

 

I used the same colour oxides on the mixed media paper, with the brushes. I really loved this combination - the colours glided on well with the brushes and I was able to do the whole thing using them. So - was it the paper or the ink?

  

For the second go, I swapped the paper round - so  DI on mixed media, and DO on stamping card - trying both with the brushes. The colours were Picked Raspberry, Wilted Violet and Candied Apple.

  

I found the Distress Inks easier to blend with the brushes on the mixed media paper - although I still felt I had to really work it. The Distress Oxides on the stamping card blended OK - better than the Distress Inks - but not as well as they had on the mixed media paper.

I continued playing around, and by the end, I had decided a couple of things. Firstly, I prefer the mixed media paper for ink blending - it's way easier than on the stamping card as the ink "sits" on the top for longe. And secondly, I will probably stick to my cut and dry for my Distress Inks, but I am loving how the Distress Oxides blend with the brushes.

Here are the results of my little play - all ready to use on future projects:

                            

   Candied Apple,                                                       Candied Apple,

     Rusty Hinge, Abandoned Coral                        Picked Raspberry, Wilted Violet   

                               

                    Broken China                                               Twisted Citron

    Mermaid Lagoon, Peacock Feathers       Mermaid Lagoon, Peacock Feathers

There are a few others, but I didn't particularly like the colour combinations - they'll get used at some point too.

I think what is important here is that, with some things, it's better to buy the more expensive items when the price relates to the quality or specific purpose of that item - eg the mixed media pad costs from £7 to £9 for 30 sheets so works out more expensive than the stamping card at approx £10 for 60 sheets. However, the results you get for ink blending are way better due to providing a far better surface to blend on. There is nothing wrong with the stamping card - but that's what its intended purpose is - for stamping rather than blending.

The brushes, from what I can tell, are not much (if at all) different in quality to the high priced ones, and while I wasn't keen with Distress Ink, the results with Distress Oxides were great. 

I am also fully aware that adding some glycerine to the mix will help Distress Inks blend more smoothly - but that's for another day.

Happy crafting,

Cxxxx