Tim Holtz the mini vs full size ink pads. Pros and Cons?

I have the mini distress inks as well as other branded ink cubes (MFT, LF, Ranger, HA). I love that they all fit in the tins and thus take up less storage space. I do have about full sized dye ink pads (SU!, MFT, HA, SSS), but I reach for the cubes more often than not. I haven't felt that the mini size hinders my inking of the stamp at all. And I have never had to re-ink or replace any of them yet.

I have the oxide inks, too. While the size of these don't bother me, I wish they came in mini size just because I like uniformity. I do use the oxides more than my regular and distress ink, for all my stamping not just techniques. I love the colors and they stamp really well. The bigger pad = more ink = less re-inking or replacements.



To answer your question - I bought the mini distress inks, because I could get four coordinating colors for around $7 or $8 using a coupon. Most of my other ink cubes came in kits, I think all but the LF. And those were purchased with a coupon - again four colors.

I think Tim Holtz said due to the formulation of the oxide inks, they won't work in the smaller sizes. :-)

I started buying distress ink in their bigger form because that’s all they sold them in. When they released the smaller size, I stuck with the larger for uniformity. I really wish I would have switched then, because now with all of them I’m too cheap to make the switch.

Like so many others I started my distress ink collection before the cubes were available so most of mine are the larger size. I do have a few of the newer shades in the cubes and I like them. If I were just starting out, I would pick the cubes over the regular size pads. BUT, I have to stay that for my other inks, I'm not a big fan of the cubes. I have a couple Gina K and Altenew cubes but I think I prefer the larger pads. I like the coverage I get with the larger size pads.

I don’t mind because I can fill each tin with a color family and I like to stack my tins.  I just put a piece of washi tape on the side that matches the color family that is in a tin.  If there were a bigger case I wouldn’t know where to store the case.  Since the tins are little they fit perfectly on my small wall shelf (mm embellishment center ) stacked up and it is easy to grab what I need.

YES! I would want them all nicely in one spot with easy view-ability.



And this is a perfect solution!! I love that!

I had a couple in the larger size before the minis were released but I just never reached for them as they were colours that I didn't use much and I was fairly new to the whole distress ink thing. When I decided to try water colouring with distress inks I thought it would be better to buy the minis as I could try 4 different colours for the same price as one big one.

This is a great solution. Did you put foam in the bottom to make them fit tighter? I’m ready to have mine all in one spot, instead of taking out all of the little tins.

I have a lot of the oxides, and I can’t see myself wanting those in the minis. They are much nicer than regular Distress Inks for stamping. The larger pad works better for that.

It's so purty!!