Thursday, March 10, 2011

Ink Organization

Author: Corrine Mihlek-Brzys
Open any rubber stamping or scrapbooking magazine and you’ll see a dazzling array of stamping inks. With as many ink types as there are colors, it’s easy for crafters to amass mountains of inks. Getting them organized and at-the-ready is crucial to being able to go with your artistic flow. Here are several ink organization ideas to make your “mountain” manageable and put a little method in your ink madness.

Type – Is it a pigment? A dye? A solvent? For many crafters inks will fall into either the dye or pigment categories, making this a basic, easy way to organize. But even if you foray into the myriad of different ink types–watermark, metallic, opalescent, chalk ink, etc.–this is still a great way to categorize your inks. You’ll always know exactly where to find ink pads for specific uses.

Manufacturer – Many manufacturers have entire lines of inks organized by season or color intensity (such as “brights” or “neutrals”). This method is great for no-brainer matching every time, especially if you also use the company’s coordinating products like paper, markers and embellishments.

Size/Style – If you have a grouping of non-standard sized ink pads, this method may make usage as well as storage easier. Keeping your long multis and your small square and elliptical ink pads stacked together keeps these odd-sized pads under control and available when you need them.

Color – This basic organization method is great for crafters who are all about the color! When you need a specific hue you can go to the correct category and whittle down your search easily from there, deciding which ink type is best.

Combination – Any of the above ways of organizing will help keep your inks from becoming an unruly hoard, but you may want to fit a category (or two) into another for a truly personalized approach. For example, you could start with separating your inks by type, then by color. Or type, manufacturer, then color. Think about how you create, what you go to first when using inks in your projects, and let that be your guide. The very best system is the one you’ll use–the one that makes the most sense to you.

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