Dye Inks
 

I'm confused. I want to use inkpad ink for watercoloring and have been researching techniques on blogs, here, and wherever I can get info. What I'm confused about is the type of dye ink. Everything I've read about dye inks for this method says that water based dye inks will run when it comes in contact with water. So, how is it a good ink to use for watercoloring? I've looked at the ink charts and also the tutorials for this technique, and people are using waterbased dye ink. I guess my question is how does it work if the waterbased dye ink is supposed to bleed when it comes in contact with water? That's the only kind of dye ink I have. Is there a "trick" to using them which makes them not bleed? Thanks?

All watercoloring is done with waterbased ink for the colored parts because you have to be able to blend and move the colors with water. But for your main outline image that you're coloring, you need to use an ink that is not waterbased, or you can emboss your main image.

My favorite ink for stamping images I'm watercoloring is India Ink in black - it's a dye ink but it is not water soluble. There are many others too that are non-water soluble dye inks for your outlines.

Here is a link to various watercoloring techniques that may help you.

Regular dye inks are generally water based so if you apply any water based colorant, they will bleed or at least smear. I've never had any luck using them for this type of thing. They work pretty well (well, some of them) with solvent based colorant such as alcohol ink.

However, there are dye inks that are "waterproof" once they're dry. My fave of these are the Ancient Page inks. They're also reasonably priced.

So my suggestion would be to either find some waterproof dye inks or go with a pigment ink and emboss it or a solvent based ink like StazOn, or my personal fave, Versafine. This is a very quick drying pigment which doesn't need embossing and has never smeared for me as long as I give it time to dry properly.

HTH

Thanks ladies. That clears it all up for me.

Have you used a water brush for your water coloring?

Aquapainter is one brand..... it holds water in the barrel and you just squeeze out a bit of water where you need.... then paint like a brush. It comes in different thicknesses. it's not messy at all!

Another trick I have is if you have SU classic ink pads , if before you open it you press the middle of the lid down to touch the inside of your pad you can get a little patch of ink on the inside of the lid. then dab the aquapaint brush in the edge of the color and mix it around a bit to get the right shade. You don't need a whole lot unless you want it really dark. You can touch it to the pad if you want really dark or a lot of color.
good luck!
:cool:

I like to use my Distress Inks for watercoloring. It's practially all I use. They hold their color when mixed with water and don't get that greenish cast some dye inks do when mixed with water.

I also use a Niji waterbrush when I watercolor. It is so much quicker...I pounce my ink on my craft mat, pick up the ink with the waterbrush & color away. Works like a charm!

Thanks so much for this information. I can now do the watercoloring with some idea of what I should use. Helps alot. I do have a couple of water brushes and plan on trying them for this technique. Splitcoast is such a great place for info. Thanks again.