Artsy Inkers
Stamping => Products and Tools => Topic started by: howdyheidi on April 06, 2015, 07:12:30 AM
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http://rangerink.com/april-2015-fossilized-amber/
http://timholtz.com/new-distress-fossilized-amber/
What do you think?
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Thanks for the links, Heidi! The ranger one worked best for my puter.
What do I think of 'Fossilized Amber'? ::) ;D
I think I would add it to my stash of DIs if I weren't holding off on ink buys until I relocate. :o
Why? 'Cause (as Ranger says) it's a good yellow with a slightly 'muddy' (not dirty) undertone. It can certainly work on its own, as well as the other DIs. As a layered ink, I can so see this color over lots of existing colors to alter them--especially some of the very bright colors. As part of an 'earthtone' pallette 'FA' would be a natural addition for me.
I can easily see this color being used for Autumn leaves & such. I can also see it used with architecture images since it has an 'aged' look & would work as a shade for sun-weathered stone & brick.
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I was hoping for a yellow, but I am not sure that this is the shade of yellow I was hoping for. The names are quite funny so far though. I will probably get it because I do have all the inks (in the minis tho), the paints and all the distress markers so I want to finish it out with all the new colors. I am not so sure about needing distress ink and the spray distress ink, really as far as I can tell they are the same product except that one has a dobber top and one has a spray top. It is kind of redundant to have both, at least I think it is. But it is nice to be able to order one time and get all the new colors in one order.
This year they came out with the marketing idea of one color a month, I wonder what they will do next year to keep selling distress products. Really how many new colors can they come up with in the next few years to generate sells? Once a person has color variety in the products one wants how many different variations of those colors does one person actually need? I hope they don't then decide to discontinue the distress line and come out with some other line to generate sells like they have done with the Claudia Helmouth line of paints which has been discontinued even though it is still being sold in stores until all the product is gone. I liked those paints too and own some and now they are going to be gone. Will the distress line go the same way, get into the market, saturate the market, then discontinue the line and start another? Rangers marketing seems to be bring out new and discontinue the old when the market is saturated. I guess its a good marketing plan it is just kind of hard to give up on the product one owns and start all over with a new one.
Well that was rambling at its finest! LOL
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I like it a lot. I like it better than Mustard Seed. I would buy it if I did not have the mustard seed. I don't have squeezed lemonade yet, so that is what is on my list next.
Sadie, I cannot imagine disress inks being discontinued any time soon! I wonder if they have any room to expand the product line. I am sorry your favorite paints are discontinued! Maybe they will discontinue certain colors and replace them with something else?
Daniel, I agree that it could be a great fall color.
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LOL, Sadie! You 'ramble' purty good, ma'am!
I've had several thots similar to yours about 'how many colors we need' & mfrs who discontinue colors/lines. BTDT when I was connected with various paint mfrs back in the 80s & 90s.
Might just start a separate chat on the subject so Heidi's remains 'on track'. ;D
Sadie. I'm curious. Would you have preferred a brighter yellow? Before seeing the actual color I was expecting it to be a deeper yellow. Maybe with an undertone of red/orange like old honey.
On the 'names'? Yeah, I laughed at this one. Since amber is fossilized sap, the name seemed redundant to me. But it's not a bad name as names go. LOL!
Heidi. I like mustard seed, but I take your point about not adding a new color when an old one 'works'.
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I was hoping for a yellow that was more inbetween the squeezed lemonade and the mustard seed....something more a true yellow but not as bright as the squeezed lemonade. I realize the squeezed lemonade can be "toned" down with a brown but still was hoping for a color between those two.....LOL sometimes it is just nice to pull out the color you want and not need to tone down or up the color.
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TY, Sadie! Your post fits right in with the new 'ink colors' thread I just started. ;)
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Well, I am sure glad my butter is not the color of Fossilized Amber!
While I have not been fond of all the previous colors...This is the first one where I feel saddly disappointed. Perhaps somehow I my good fairy fell asleep while this one was finalized...it is not the yellow I waited for so long. Like Heidi I often include flowers and nature elements in my work. I too wished for a true yellow. Like the alcohol inks and Adirondack inks it took considerable time after earthtones for the brights to be added... After the teaser of the seasonal colors I was hopeful that this palette of 12.
would all lean to the brighter side.
Sadie I agree the distress stains and sprays being similar...and Tim has a video showing us how to open the stain bottles to pour into our own spray bottles (made prior to the spray bottles being available). Also, I too loved Claudine's acrylic paints...and her wonderful color chart showing the ratios to mix additional colors. I have full bottles of the primary colors and a few others too...so I will be sticking with them as long as I can.
I don't understand Tim's role as Ranger's creative director and designer of his own lines. As CD it feels like he only promotes his own lines (not any of the other designer's products). Like he taught very little-to-none about acrylic paints when Claudine's were release. For what I saw she had the whole load of providing consumer education about her products. And that seems to continue with each new designer. I believe Nick Bantock was pre-internet or at least pre-You Tube. I have never seen or heard him or even read any written information. It seemed like not much was even said about that line in recent years. Now his line of inks has been discontinued too. Only recently I read the label and was shocked to learn they are water based like distress inks ...so do these inks work similar to distress inks? Nick had a great yellow in his ink pads in his line...so I will so be putting his inks through some experiments and at time will combined them with distress inks to see if I can use them to fill in the some distress line gaps.
As I was saying....For now I have no thoughts of buying products in the fossilized amber colors.
...Jan
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LOL on the 'butter' comment, Jan!
I used Heidi's link to Ranger to check out all the DI colors available. I'm not sure how 'true' the colors show up, but that's always @ the mercy of our computers.
I have lots of gaps in my stash of DI (pads), but looking over them all--including this year's newbies--I see few that I would call 'bright'. I thot about it a bit & wonder if it isn't deliberate.
When I first acquired a few DIs, I was not happy with how they worked--coverage, etc. I expected them to work like my other dye inks. It took me a bit to understand that 'Distress' was an actual 'look'--faded, abraded, aged, etc.. I suspect that producing bright colors that look distressed may be problematic.
Like Heidi, I have Mustard Seed. To me it's a nice 'bright' yellow and 'FA' would not be a good substitute for me. But I could use 'FA' to shade 'MS'.
What I'm coming to terms with is that any specific ink's pallete is just that--specific to that ink brand. Doesn't mean it's incompatable with other brands, but not necessarily a replacement for all my other inks--in this case dye inks.
I'm grateful for this thread. As I pack up those inks I plan to take with me, I may just go through my older pads & save some of my old 'bright' dye inks. Most of them are from Hampton & I believe Stewart Superior was the mfr.
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Interesting point, Jan, about Tim Holtz working for Ranger, but not really promoting the other lines that Ranger carries. Hmmm. Food for thought.
Yes, I do wish we could get a true idea of the true color on our computer screens. I think it helps if you have one or more of the colors they are comparing and then you can kindof tell.
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Interesting point, Jan, about Tim Holtz working for Ranger, but not really promoting the other lines that Ranger carries. Hmmm. Food for thought.
With some slight experience in the Craft Industry, I'm pretty sure Tim's contract with Ranger would make an interesting 'read'. Having had a few 'job titles' of my own over the years, they (like color names) don't always say much, but sound good & are useful on a resume. ;)
Yes, I do wish we could get a true idea of the true color on our computer screens. I think it helps if you have one or more of the colors they are comparing and then you can kindof tell.
Good point, Heidi. I've done that with my DIs. I find their label colors are fairly close to how the color looks.
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I agree it is really helpful to see the new color compared to other current colors. And for me mustard seed is already plenty dark. I did note on Tim's blog the comparison of the FA color swatch was done with a firmer pressure than the other yellow colors...so that too makes some difference. Tim started the distress concept in 2002 as a new employee...he wanted ink pads to work like walnut crystals which were the popular coloring at the time, which exploded with color on the page and more. When the chemists asked what colors he wanted in the line he shared 5 brown colors and black. The line follows his love of vintage so I don't think he counted on moving to bright colors. For me not being a person who enjoys coloring I love all the special techniques/effects that distress can create. But Daniel's reality check is spot-on of how decisions are made: this is a business and decisions are based on the profits.
I know I can watercolor with other water-based dye inks but I think the techniques like distress ink will be limited. I saw Jennifer McGuire's blog post yesterday was promoting Ranger's new dye inks replacing the Adirondack inks (LOL-she's fast...I haven't seen much of a promotion on Ranger). It includes a nice bright range of basic colors.
I just need to remind myself that my focus is for the best products that work for me. I don't have nearly enough insight to guess the financial reports of any of these businesses. Goodness, I never had any thoughts that Tsukineko would sell out to Imagine Crafts.
Daniel, I get an evenly inked distress images from clear stamps after I season them with a coating of black archival ink...that works for me...and I like being able to see the black image (the coating must remain on the stamp).
Happy day!...Jan
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I am also one of the crazy people who stamps with Distress inks. I find it works well if you reink the pads fairly often.
You know, Jan, I actually did not watch the video for the new Amber ink yet, but when I looked at that photo of the inks side by side, I wondered if the Amber ink was applied more firmly. It just looked like it was somehow.
I saw the Ranger inks closer to CHA and I do like the bright basic colors they come in. especially the blue.
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Thanks Heidi for the links to the new color---to be honest, I was kinda disappointed at first that it was a darker toned color.....I don't think it's ugly or anything, I was just hoping for bright colors too...but I have been thinking off and on about it and am wondering how close the FA is to acting like a "raw Sienna" that's in the watercolor world (though the examples TH shows on his blog do not match the color on the FA ink pad and bottles!).
Also the other yellow colors TH shows for example comparisons do not look like my yellows from the distress line---my 'lemonade' is alot closer to neon lemonade IRL than what is shown on his example as well as the other colors (the 'wild honey' TH shows almost looks like 'ripe persimon' to me IRL)----but I guess that is thanks to the computer screen.
I have trouble stamping with DI--I'll try Jan's suggestion and Heidi's too since I have a few reinkers.
Jan, do you also use the archival ink tip on rubber stamps too?
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I like it a lot. I like it better than Mustard Seed. I would buy it if I did not have the mustard seed. I don't have squeezed lemonade yet, so that is what is on my list next.
My first thought on seeing it was, is it any different than mustard seed. That was before I looked at the link with the comparison. And I'm still not seeing enough of a difference to really want it.
But I do love Squeezed Lemonade. It works really well with Picked Raspberry and Ripe Persimmon to create bright backgrounds.
Before seeing the actual color I was expecting it to be a deeper yellow. Maybe with an undertone of red/orange like old honey.
I had the same thought, Daniel. With a name like fossilized amber, you would think it would have more golden/honey undertones.
So far, I haven't been all that impressed. The only one that I'm considering is the cracked pistachio. And I'm especially disappointed that the abandoned coral isn't a more intensely coral color. I guess my lack of enthusiasm for the colors is good for my pocket book.
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And I'm especially disappointed that the abandoned coral isn't a more intensely coral color.
I too was really disappointed that AC was not more of a coral color.....I love coral and was so excited that there is an ink in that shade-----my only hope right now is that maybe IRL it truely does look like coral (maybe it's my computer screen that shows it not to be coral).
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I am just loving all the posts! So much great info--especially Jan's 'insider' stuff! I sometimes miss the old trade (craft) mags. They--along with connecting with Industry friends--were always a good source of what was happening & why. Anyhoo...
One thing I liked was that DIs labels looked like the color, but have to admit that's a relative impression. I decided to pull my Mustard Seed pad out today. The color on its label does seem a bit brighter than the stamped ink, but I still find it brighter than the new Amber which I believe is more of a yellow ochre (as opposed to raw sienna).
If I wanted to achieve a similar color with my DIs, I'd probably try layering Mustard Seed & Tea Dye. I can still see value from 'FA' as non-brown way to 'alter' other colors. Of all the 2015 DIs it's the first one I would really consider adding, but I do kind of like the Pistachio since I like greens.
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Jan I just discovered the walnut crystals---and other watercolor crystals----and I think they are really neat! I might try some someday, but I liked the organic (and uncontrollable) nature they take on with the addition of water...neat to know that that was the inspiration for the DI line!
I have often wondered if there were other items in the art world that react with water---just I didn't know about them and/or they were hidden due to marketing--- I am seeing some items in the scrapbooking aisles at Michaels that are different gels, glazes, and pastes----but you can then walk across the store to the art aisle to pick up the exact product (but under different name) but it does the same thing (and is usually cheaper by volume).
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I did not consider walnut crystals an easy product to work with when they were 1at popular...but then that was pre-You Tube as well as pre-craft stores in Fairbanks...so maybe I just needed a good demonstrator. Anyways new art do have the possibility of rebounding once again. Since prior to Christmas creative folks in Great Britain, surrounding countries and Australia have been enjoying Brusho, a water reactive powder. And Ken Oliver kicked off a new product in the US at the January CHA called Color Burst. He describes it as a microfine concentrated powder colorant to be used with water on porous surfaces. Melissa is this what you are seeing in the stores? They are not here in the stores yet but a couple samples arrived today in my mailbox!...so I will be trying them out soon!
Melissa-Many of the distress colors on the Ranger's labels are not the same as the product. My take on the labels is that the labels are probably produced before the ink color is finalized. Also note the colors in the line-up of products are not always the same color product to product.
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Wow there are quite a few watercolor crystals out there, huh!! I will be interested in how the crystals are for you Jan after you get to play with them.
I haven't seen any of the ones you mentioned in the stores---I have only seen them online after Sarah and Heidi mentioned them---I had to go see what they were talking about, lol!
The product I was talking about seeing in the Michaels in both the scrapbooking aisle and the art aisle are gels, gesso, pastes---I saw a small jar of gesso in the scrapbooking aisle and it was a small jar and the price (per volume) was really high compared to if you bought some gesso from their art department instead.
Good to know that the colors may not even translate across products within DIs. I wish they could get the color to be closer to the label though---it does make me wonder how they go about designing the labels---I know I'd be bummed if I had worked out the color and after they manufactured everything, the label and paints didn't match each other (but that happens even in watercolors etc)---it would make me feel like I am not representing the product I made correctly (I hope paint stores don't do this! Can you imagine the conversation: " the brown on this swatch card is a little lighter than it is from the paint can ...but you can take this swatch card home for a rough estimate to see if you like it..just remember the paint itself is a a few shades darker IRL." :o I don't remember it being this way for a friend of mine, who we helped paint their room a couple weekends ago.)
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My stores carry DI with two slightly different labels. The one is in french and english (maybe spanish too) and the other is the standard label. I noticed that the colors for some of the inks are different on the multi-lingual label (lgihter, usually) than the standard label.
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I think it was Sadie maybe you questioned how Distress would expand their line even further???
Look no more...
http://timholtz.com/new-distress-accessories/
Distress accessories!
I like the idea of a blank stamp pad that you could make ombre, but it is really nothing you couldn't buy before.
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I think it was Sadie maybe you questioned how Distress would expand their line even further???
Look no more...
http://timholtz.com/new-distress-accessories/
Distress accessories!
I like the idea of a blank stamp pad that you could make ombre, but it is really nothing you couldn't buy before.
Oh my, the line has grown by 4 products! LOL! A spray bottle, an empty ink pad, distress refresher, and distress glaze. LOL again! I haven't watched the videos yet but I am sure there is some secret special use that will make these products indispensable to crafters.........thank you for the link. Actually it looks like these products will be available before some of the other things that Ranger introduced at CHA, like the Dina Wakely fine tips for her paint which still have not hit the stores. I think they should get the stuff that was introduced at CHA out in the stores before they bring out more stuff, but that's just me.
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LOL Sadie! I just finally received Tim's winter greenry dies that were on backorder since last October! I was determined to keep them on the list so I would have them for this year Lol...None too early I say!
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I watched the video on the distress glaze, which is an old product that is rebranded by Ranger. I could see a use for it, but depends on how much.
I thought they already had an ink refresher????
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The DIY pad is neat but I am wondering how much the empty pad would be...
The sprayer...I always wondered if companies can make a GOOD sprayer and if they can manufacture the sprayer differently to change the way a sprayer sprays. I figured they can somewhat b/c that's why some bottles spray better than other bottles even in houseware products. Thus I am interested to see how this bottle of different from other sprayers.
The micro glaze reminds me of Carmex---I wonder if vaseline would work the same.....
I think in the video TH says you can use ink refresher but that he wanted a smaller bottle....I am wondering if it's just water and glycerin... ???