Mini Ink Cubes

For years I have had both Distress minis and the Altenew Crisp Dye Ink Minis. Both for stenciling.  Distress for techniques, and the Altenew for stamping. I am at the point where I need some reinkers for my Altenews, but they are changing ink formulas and discontinuing the ones I have. Bummer.

So I started looking around, and came across a really good sale on the Simon Says Positively Saturated cube bundle a couple months back. I am happy with them. I stencil as much or more than I stamp, and they are VERY SATURATED and work great. They are foam, not felt, so that has been an adjustment because they are so juicy, but it is fine, and once I got the hang of not CPR inking they stamp great.

I have some Hero Arts cubes that came with kits, and I do not like them. They stain my clear stamps like crazy.

I will say, I was ink blending back in the day when Distress was about the only ink you could blend, and all these companies have changed formulas now over the years, and they blend and stencil very well. Other threads on this board seem to indicate that most formulas now are similar, just go with the company that has the colors you like the most. If I had one complaint about the Simon cubes, it would be that there are only 60 cubes released so far.

I have full sets of both Gina K and Pinkfresh Studio, Memento Dewdrops and some random Hero Arts that came with kits. I prefer inks with felt pads instead of foam for stamping. I don't use the cubes for ink blending because it feels like it takes forever to ink up the brush or blender, but I'm pretty sure that's just my perception and not reality I especially love the cubes for stamping sentiments with a stamp positioner - much less ink gets on the positioner lid.

Between the Gina K/Pinkfresh/Memento, I can't tell any difference between their stamping performance. Pinkfresh is nice in that the cubes come in 4packs of coordinating shades, but as best I can tell, you cannot buy them in individual cubes. GinaK has a few sets of 3 light-medium-dark cubes, and several assortment packages but they can also be purchased as individual cubes, and she has quite a bit of info on her facebook page about colors that work together for blending and layered stamping. Memento I use the least. They don't have as many colors and I don't have refills for most of them, so they kind of get forgotten!

I don't have ones from other companies, because I know that I suffer from full set syndrome and if I pick up a couple, I will think I need them all. Best I stay away and don't open that can of confusion.

I have a full set of Memento Dew Drops (but that's only 36). I LOVE how they stamp. I also have a fair number of Versa Fine Clair pads (no smaller size available) mostly in darker shades for stamping sentiments.

I collected a fair number of Altenew crisp dye cubes when I was starting out a couple years ago, but I do not love and am clearing them out and donating them as I need the space.

I have a handful each of Taylored Expressions and PinkFresh and feel pretty meh about both.

I have large collections of Concord and 9th cubes from events and Hero Arts cubes from kits. I would say the C&9th are my second favorite after Memento. I'm tip-toeing toward FSS with them. I would probably have to consider de-stashing the HA were I to go down that road. Well, I guess I could start with the rest of the Altenew, then the TE, the PF, and the HA last....

When I first started out a couple of years ago, the girls here recommended that I try several brands to see which I liked best. I bought some here and some there, until I had a few dozen colors in cubes.

Found out that I really liked the PinkFresh colors, so I have a complete set of the cubes and reinkers. I also decided that I really like the Concord and 9th color palette, so I am working on collecting full sized pads to go with my cubes from them. Eventually I'll replace the cubes from C9 with full sized pads too.

Jo, Are the Catherine Pooler ink pads foam or felt?