Stephinka’s Reviews: Hero Arts Shadow Ink Mid-Tone Ink Pads Review

A few weeks ago I received my stash of the Hero Arts Shadow Ink Mid-Tone ink pads in all the colours that are out (currently, anyway!). I had given them a go then and then promptly put them away- however, they are one of those products that I believe I should share with the stamping community what I thought of them because I had lots of fun just play-stamping with these.

First thoughts are that there is a pretty nice selection of colours, great for florals, with two nice neutrals to go along. The cover is a little flimsy so you gotta make sure you close them tight, or hold them carefully because the cover will fall off if you drop the ink pad. Don’t ask me how I know!!

Here they are, stamped with a red rubber stamp also from Hero Arts. Click to enlarge the picture- you can see that they really stamp very evenly although it may look a bit splotchy at first. I have found the best way to use the ink is to go from pad-to-stamp and then once you get ink all over the image, use light and quick tap-tap motions to even out any ink bubbles or uneven coverage.

Thinking it was perhaps the red rubber that was helping it along, I used two other dye inks in comparison, the new PTI dye ink, and the Jenni Bowlin dye ink…. As you can see… The JB one really paled in comparison, but the PTI one looked pretty all right:

.. okay, still not better than the shadow ink!

I decided to see if I could get an even coverage on a clear stamp- usually dye inks tend to pool and bead on photopolymer/acrylic stamps even if you prep them. Here I used an image from PTI’s Rosie Posie stamp set. Looks like it stamps very beautifully huh? Let’s have a closer look:

In comparison to another dye ink (PTI’s Raspberry Fizz latest formula dye ink), it stamps way better no matter how carefully I inked the stamp up with the PTI ink. What a champ! Just a warning though: it can stain your clear stamps. Probably quite heavily too, if you don’t clean it and wash it immediately after use. But the PTI ink stained as well… I think it’s just the way it goes for clear stamps!

Not too bad for using with sentiments although it’s not as sharp as I would like… like Versafine sharp.. That’s a bit too much to ask for though ;P

I also decided to put it to the faux letterpress test- no faux letterpress technique has ever worked for me…

Until now. 😉 The coverage is SO even! Loving this Shadow Ink thingy… It’s water-based but you will be able to see the consistency seems to be thicker than usual dye inks. I wonder what chemistry is behind this!

Finally, I am sure some people are wondering the different between this and the earlier-released Shadow Inks from HA. These ones are all darker shades, and since I don’t own all the older Shadow Inks with softer colours, I just did a little comparison for the Soft Pool Shadow Ink with the Shadow Ink Mid-Tone in Pool– they look like they will work so perfectly together! I am in love!

These are inks I totally recommend… They are really one of the best inks I have tried, and I have many inks! Unfortunately I don’t think they work well with Copics even if they had a black colour (or if you used the Cup O’ Joe shade) – I just ran the colourless blender through one of my stamped images and the colours started to run.

Well, I hope you enjoyed my little review and comparison photos. Would you like to read more review posts from me? Comment and let me know! xx Stephinka