Aquapainter vs blender brush

[BeBeCaKeS]

hi all....what's the difference between these two? I keep reading how much people love the blender brush....I have the one from michaels. Niji. Is this blender brush? Or are these terms exclusive to SU? Thanks!

[Crafty Math Chick]

I posted the identical sentiment earlier this morning and haven't heard back yet. Too funny! Hopefully someone will give us both some insight soon.

[lindylou1220]

The aquapainter is used with water, while the blender "pen" (that's the SU! version; not sure if blender "brush" is exactly the same) has its own solution already in it.

I use the blender pen with my chalks or smoosh the SU! inkpad and take the ink off the lid. Mostly, I use my aquapainters with my watercolor crayons but you can also use them with the "smoosh" method or with reinkers. The reinkers also work well with the blender pens. HTH

[BeBeCaKeS]

LINDYLOU, thanks! When u mean 'own solution in it already' for the blender pen, do u mean not water?

[lindylou1220]

Yes, it's "not water". I wish I could be more specific (and you can probably find some threads here that talk about it), but it comes "already wet".

[dianerh]

I might add here that they each give a different look too. The water brushes, whether Niji (better control of water flow) or others, give more of a true watercolor/waterpaint look, while blenders (many brands) just allow you to smoothly shade whatever medium you're working with. HTH! :-)

[alcesalces]

A Niji waterbrush has a barrel that you can fill with water. Or you can fill it with rubbing alcohol or bleach for different effects.

[blizlady]

I found this recipe for blender pen refill solution:

Blender Pen Re-Fill Solution Recipe -

For 1 ounce bottle fill
1/3 Glycerine
2/3 Distilled water
1/4 teaspoon alcohol

Put in blender pen barrel.

After stamping an image, usually a small flower, I use my blender pen to blend in the ink that I just stamped, sort of like water coloring but using the ink on the image you just stamped to bring in some color to the middle of the image. I also use my blender pens to "set" my pastel chalked images, plus it makes the chalks look a little bolder & brighter.

[blizlady]

I also saw a recipe where someone used just a 50/50 mix of glycerine and water.

[LMstamps]

I asked this question on another thread about blender pens, but did not get a response...so I thought I would ask on this thread.

My question is about SU Blender Pens. Don't they eventually dry up, compared to aquapainters which we can refill? LM :-)

[lindylou1220]

There are recipes, like in Post #8, for blender pen refills. However, IMO, they will eventually dry out or wear out. But Aquapainters will eventually wear out, too, I'd think.

[JulieHRR]

Quote:

Originally Posted by leanerme

I asked this question on another thread about blender pens, but did not get a response...so I thought I would ask on this thread.

My question is about SU Blender Pens. Don't they eventually dry up, compared to aquapainters which we can refill? LM :-)

Yes, a Blender Pen will dry up over time/repeated use.

A Blender Pen has a nylon tip that's just like the "brushtip" end of an SU! marker--in fact it actually looks just like a marker, BUT, the fluid inside it is "colorless", and enables it to pick up coloring medium from watercolor pencils, drops of dye ink, from the edge of an ink pad, etc. and to transfer that color to a project. You use it to color in, pretty much like a marker, but you can blend the color out, etc. After time and repeated use, the fluid will eventually dry out, and the tips can become worn.

You can refill a blender pen, if you have refill solution, by gripping the tip of the pen with pliers and pulling it out; put a few drops of refill solution (homemade, store-bought, whatever!) into the barrel, replace the tip and allow it to sit horizontally overnight until the tip is resaturated again with fluid.

An AquaPainter is a like a watercolor brush, but the barrel has a reservoir for loading up with water. It operates more like a paintbrush/watercolor brush, and having the water inside the refillable barrel means you don't have to worry about keeping a cup of water handy for whatever watercolor method you prefer to use (cakes, tubes, dye reinker, watercolor crayons, watercolor pencils, etc.)

Would I use blender fluid in an AquaPainter? Well, I don't see any point, really, in doing that, but I guess I could if I wanted to. I typically put just water in my AquaPainter. Will an Aquapainter wear out? I suppose it could, but it would take a number of years and a lot of repeated use before that could happen. It's a different beast than the Blender Pen. ;)

People frequently use Blender Pens to color images with pastels/chalks, however, the chemical ingredients in the blender fluid causes the pastels/chalks to harden, so if you ever want to use them again the way they were intended--to create soft chalk coloring effects, make sure to use the Blender Pen in just a corner of the pastel/chalk cake, or on the back side so that you don't end up sealing the whole cake, hardening it, and subsequently rendering it useless for those soft chalky effects.

HTH,

[inkerzaway]

when I first got my crimper, my then 2nd grade son appointed himself as the official "paper wrinkler" and loved helping me crimp. He just turned 16 and wouldn't be caught dead having anything to do with stamping now...lol! But I did enjoy using it then and when I use it now, it's usually for the ends of the sour cream containers (keeps them stuck together better) or the other thing I like doing with it is to crimp the cardstock then feed it back into the crimper going the other direction and you end up with the neatest "waffle" texture effect. I love it. Not as evident as crimping but much easier to adhere and it looks cool. Jan

[inkerzaway]

oops, I musta hit the wrong button somehow, was looking at a thread about crimpers and somehow managed to send my reply to the blender pen thread. So sorry! Jan(blushing and missing the edit key!)