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Post by kmage on Sept 22, 2022 21:35:40 GMT
I was so excited to find a bunch of Hero Arts mini stamp cubes on clearance at JA...and they are awful. I have tried them with a variety of stamps, on a variety of papers (primarily Neenah) and the images are garbage, blurry and watery looking. The cubes are not dried out, they are plenty juicy but either I am doing something very wrong (not sure what it could be) or this ink is just not good.
If they are really not great, is there any reason I should keep them? Otherwise they will be donated to the grandnieces for the kids art bin.
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pancakes
Drama Llama
Posts: 5,002 
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Post by pancakes on Sept 22, 2022 21:46:29 GMT
The ink always beads up, even on stamps I know aren’t an issue. I’d get other inks.
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Post by kmage on Sept 22, 2022 21:49:33 GMT
Thanks for confirming..I do have plenty of other ink, I just was excited about these because they were "color families" like 4 ombre colors, good for shading stamps, layering, etc. |
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Post by infochick on Sept 22, 2022 22:39:32 GMT
Mine are old, but they also bead up and look awful when stamped  |
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jediannie
Pearl Clutcher
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Jun 30, 2014 3:19:06 GMT
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Post by jediannie on Sept 22, 2022 23:41:30 GMT
Mine did the same thing so I just tossed them.
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Post by mcjunkin on Sept 23, 2022 1:42:29 GMT
I used to subscribe to the HA monthly kit, which usually comes with cubes, so my experience was with new ones. Beading, blurry and stained stamps sooooo bad. They were awful!!!
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pantsonfire
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Take a step back, evaluate what is important, and enjoy your life with those who you love.
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Post by pantsonfire on Sept 23, 2022 2:41:52 GMT
I just gave my 7 HA stamp cubes another go (it has been while since I have used them to stamp - been using them with ink blenders) and I didn't have any beading or issues stamping. The only thing I noticed was that on the stamps I used (Recollections), a little ink went a long way so I had to be careful with how I inked those stamps.
Let me get a picture of the 7 colors and 7 stamped images.
BTW I used strawberry, tangerine, dandelion, green apple, aegean, orchid, and indigo.
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pantsonfire
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Post by pantsonfire on Sept 23, 2022 2:43:41 GMT
I, however, am having issues with the 4 pack of Ranger Distressed Archival ink minis that I got at Michael's. I have faded jean, dusty concord, mermaid lagoon, and peeled paint.
They stamp horribly! I have tried them on several different stamp brands as well as tried using them for ink blended and with stencils. Not happy about that purchase.
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pantsonfire
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Post by pantsonfire on Sept 23, 2022 2:56:20 GMT
Okay so here is what I stamped. All stamped 1 x each. Please excuse the ink print on the parrot. I accidentally touched it after getting ink from another stamp on my finger and then it before I stamped.  |
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pantsonfire
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Post by pantsonfire on Sept 23, 2022 2:58:04 GMT
I just kept pressing the stamps on white cardstock to get rid of any excess. They haven't been washed. So not much staining.
You can so see the ink amount on the giraffe.
These aren't the best stamps so there is that.
But I didn't have any issues when I used the stamp cubes with the HA rainbow stamp and die set that came with the cubes.
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Post by tampascrapper on Sept 23, 2022 3:03:50 GMT
I just kept pressing the stamps on white cardstock to get rid of any excess. They haven't been washed. So not much staining. You can so see the ink amount on the giraffe. These aren't the best stamps so there is that. But I didn't have any issues when I used the stamp cubes with the HA rainbow stamp and die set that came with the cubes. Thanks for posting the pics. I have never used HA cubes but was contemplating getting some since I sign up for their Stamp Along event. |
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pantsonfire
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Post by pantsonfire on Sept 23, 2022 3:05:50 GMT
I just kept pressing the stamps on white cardstock to get rid of any excess. They haven't been washed. So not much staining. You can so see the ink amount on the giraffe. These aren't the best stamps so there is that. But I didn't have any issues when I used the stamp cubes with the HA rainbow stamp and die set that came with the cubes. Thanks for posting the pics. I have never used HA cubes but was contemplating getting some since I sign up for their Stamp Along event. I mainly use them for inking paper with a blender and going over stencils. They are really great for that! But yeah, the few times they have been used with stamps, I haven't had any beading. Just need to watch how much you ink the stamp, especially if it has lots of nooks and crannies. |
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Post by kmage on Sept 23, 2022 3:13:46 GMT
pantsonfire, thanks for the pics! Those def look better than mine. Can I ask what paper you are using? Maybe I will keep them around, and try them with stencils or something. That is crummy about the Ranger inks-do you mean you got minis of the Distress inks? I will say they are not great for any detailed stamping in my experience. But yeah, infochick, I am in the same boat as you, they are just a mess. Ah well, at least they were only 2 bucks a set.
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pantsonfire
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Post by pantsonfire on Sept 23, 2022 3:59:06 GMT
pantsonfire, thanks for the pics! Those def look better than mine. Can I ask what paper you are using? Maybe I will keep them around, and try them with stencils or something. That is crummy about the Ranger inks-do you mean you got minis of the Distress inks? I will say they are not great for any detailed stamping in my experience. But yeah, infochick, I am in the same boat as you, they are just a mess. Ah well, at least they were only 2 bucks a set. Just basic white cardstock from Michael's. The one that comes in a pack and is 80 or 100 pound weight. Yes, minis of the distress inks. Even for blending and going over a stencil. I feel like I have to constantly ink the blender to get it on the paper. If you touch it, it is wet so I don't get it. |
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Post by CardBoxer on Sept 23, 2022 10:34:45 GMT
That’s too bad. I’ve used HA cubes for years and they’ve been fine so reading this was surprising. An LSS always carried them and they were used in some classes.
This may not apply, but in general acrylic stamps (rather than photopolymer) can take ink poorly with ink beading up, or it can even happen with cheap, low quality photopolymer. New stamps need to be conditioned by rubbing with a finger or eraser, or first stamping with a sticky embossing ink like Versamark. And CS makes a difference.
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Post by elegantsufficiency on Sept 23, 2022 10:44:34 GMT
Thank you for this discussion. I never thought of it being anything but my own fault that my stamped images didn't come out as I'd hoped. Well, that's probably frequently the case but I can see now, it might be caused by something beyond my control too.
I love this place!
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Post by mcjunkin on Sept 23, 2022 13:06:28 GMT
I, however, am having issues with the 4 pack of Ranger Distressed Archival ink minis that I got at Michael's. I have faded jean, dusty concord, mermaid lagoon, and peeled paint. They stamp horribly! I have tried them on several different stamp brands as well as tried using them for ink blended and with stencils. Not happy about that purchase. I hace not tried the Distress Archival colors, but my other Archivals, regular sized and minis, always seem so dry. You gotta press the heck out of it to get ink on the stamps it seems like. Which is a shame, cause it truly is a good waterproof ink. If you can ever get it to stamp. I avoid stamping with them unless I have to have waterproof. Which makes me sad, cause I would like some of the Distress colors. But nope. Never even tried to ink blend because they were so stinking dry. Also, you get much better stamp impressions than I ever have! I will say, it has prob been 2 years or more that I got the sub and the ink cubes. Maybe they worked on the formulas. Some of my HA stamps that came in the kits look horrific. The layered sunflowers that came in one of their kits just drank the ink up. Makes them very difficult to line up. I was not happy. |
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pinklady
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Post by pinklady on Sept 23, 2022 13:49:04 GMT
I have quite a few Hero Arts mini cubes from their monthly kits. I swatch all my inks and what I’ve noticed is that they stamp horribly at first but once they have a lot of time to dry and smooth out they actually look fine.
All of my swatches are done on Neena classic crest solar white cardstock.
This does stop me from using them on cards because I don’t want to wait for my stamping to smooth out and want it to look perfect right away.
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Post by CardBoxer on Sept 23, 2022 22:14:41 GMT
I, however, am having issues with the 4 pack of Ranger Distressed Archival ink minis that I got at Michael's. I have faded jean, dusty concord, mermaid lagoon, and peeled paint. They stamp horribly! I have tried them on several different stamp brands as well as tried using them for ink blended and with stencils. Not happy about that purchase. I hace not tried the Distress Archival colors, but my other Archivals, regular sized and minis, always seem so dry. You gotta press the heck out of it to get ink on the stamps it seems like. Which is a shame, cause it truly is a good waterproof ink. If you can ever get it to stamp. I avoid stamping with them unless I have to have waterproof. Which makes me sad, cause I would like some of the Distress colors. But nope. Never even tried to ink blend because they were so stinking dry. Also, you get much better stamp impressions than I ever have! I will say, it has prob been 2 years or more that I got the sub and the ink cubes. Maybe they worked on the formulas. Some of my HA stamps that came in the kits look horrific. The layered sunflowers that came in one of their kits just drank the ink up. Makes them very difficult to line up. I was not happy. The two inks I make sure to buy re-inkers for are Distress Oxides and Ranger Archival. Oxides since using lots of inks for blending and other techniques, and Archival because they aren’t all that juicy. But I do love them. Another ink where even the owner suggests buying re-inkers is Catherine Pooler. I don’t have many of her inks; they’re wonderful, just not my cuppa so much. |
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Post by marg on Sept 26, 2022 1:25:28 GMT
I use the Distress Archival mini inks when stamping on photos for PL. They're perfect for this, imo. I've never had a problem.
I just bought a couple of sets of HA cubes - they're the Reactive inks. I haven't tried them yet, I'll be using them for Crop and Create this weekend. I haven't used any of their other inks, though.
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Post by kmage on Sept 26, 2022 3:01:55 GMT
I just bought a couple of sets of HA cubes - they're the Reactive inks. Mine weren't this kind, they were the super cheap JA ones, a 4-pack for 8.99, but then on clearance for something like 2.69 for the 4 pack. So I think they are just the very basic ones. Probably ok for blocky images, but not for anything detailed. |
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Post by CardBoxer on Sept 26, 2022 11:35:32 GMT
I just bought a couple of sets of HA cubes - they're the Reactive inks. Mine weren't this kind, they were the super cheap JA ones, a 4-pack for 8.99, but then on clearance for something like 2.69 for the 4 pack. So I think they are just the very basic ones. Probably ok for blocky images, but not for anything detailed. Those are dye inks, sold to many stores, including LSS's, and are the ones I’d used for years for any type of stamp. Cardstock quality has a big effect. HA is a family owned company with good customer service. Why not call them? |
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