The Blooming Experiment

Someone recently asked in a group what some of our favorite inks are.  Now that's a HARD question to answer because it depends on what outcome I am looking for.  In today's experiment I am testing out four ink brands for what I call the "bloom" effect.  Basically how the inks react on watercolor paper.  I used the same paper for each ink group and the same water bottle ;).

Let me just start with what led me to try this.

This was done with Lavinia "Elements" ink.  Would you just look at that fractally goodness! Such an amazing reaction.  I decided to see if I could get sort of the same effect with some other brands of dye inks.

Let's start out with Catherine Pooler inks.  For the experiment, I tried to use similar colors. I used Pucker Up, Cummerbund, and Catching Rays.

It did break up a bit, but more in larger chunks.  Do you think it passes the bloom test?

Next up, Simon Hurley inks. I used Lovestruck, Shooting Star, and Clear Skies

The colors blended together beautifully, but again, I did not get the fractal appearance and again just larger bleached out chunks.

Okay, next up, Tim Holtz Distress Inks.  I used Squeezed Lemonade, Mermaid Lagoon, and Picked Raspberry.

The chunks were even larger here as the water wanted to pool up rather than spread.

Now finally I thought I would be fair and get a closer color range with the Lavinia Elements inks. I used Blue Lagoon, Sundance, and Mulberry.

To be fair, Lavinia makes deeper and earthier tones.  Whatever is in the ink formula, the reaction to water is different. It doesn't seem to bleach as much if you don't dab it.

So which is my favorite ink? I will say again, it depends on the outcome I am looking for!

Thanks for stopping by!