Spectrum Noir Liquid Sparkle Glitter Inks

I was very grateful to be one of the lucky people chosen to review this weeks product for Craft World, especially as I already know how good the Spectrum Noir Sparkle brush pens are. I received the Forest Glade pack consisting of Hearthside (Red), Garden Green (Dark Green) and Lichen (mid Green).  These are ideal colours for Christmas projects, Red Roses or Earthy themes. It is also possible to achieve different shades of brown by using both the Red and Green together.

These inks have really been put to the test using a variety of techniques as follows: Brush Lettering Images, Ink splats from a brush, Painting onto wet card, Printing after brushing onto plastic, Stencilling through a spray bottle, Stamping and Emboss resist technique.  One thing which I did notice straight away was how only a very little ink covered a large area.

Upon opening the inks some of the fine silver glitter particles, which looks like mica had settled to the bottom.  So, before using them I given the pots a little shake to help the glittery magic along or it could also be a good idea to store them upside down.

One thing I have noticed is the level of glittery sheen achieved with these inks appears to be more intense than with the Spectrum Noir Brush Pens.  Even watering these down with a 50/50 ratio of water in ink they still achieve a beautiful glittery look that appears to match the same intensity of glitter achieved with the pens.  So already I can see these little pots being far better value for money than buying the pens.  

I had lots of fun with my Artistic daughter creating backgrounds with the Spectrum Noir spray bottle, ink splats and making a print by applying the ink onto plastic and placing card over the top to press it onto.  I can see these being very good for Mixed Media projects.

Another technique I tried was to spray the ink through a stencil.  Spraying lightly from a distance helps to prevent the ink runs.  That said a spray bottle that sprays the ink more evenly would work better for this method.  This is something that i'm now going to look out for as they do look really nice used in this way.  It’s also something that my younger girls would like to try and of course it creates less mess than them getting out the paintbrushes.

Having done a fair bit of stamping in the past, I also wanted to try stamping with the inks but unfortunately I wasn’t able to achieve the look I was after.  I dabbed a tiny bit of ink onto the stamp with a paint brush but I found doing this it was difficult to distribute the ink evenly and it did give quite an effective distressed look.  Maybe I need a dried up ink pad/sponge to get crisper results for stamping?

My favourite technique using these inks has to be the emboss resist technique using Wow clear embossing powder a stamp pad.  With just a little blending of the two shades of green over the top and adding a little red to create brown for the trunk I was able to create very earthy colours which worked very well for the tree stamp I used.

Whilst I really like the Spectrum Noir Sparkle Ink pens, I don’t have to worry about them spilling as with the pots, I was able to achieve sharper lines using a fine paint brush.  I felt like I had more control over the application of the ink with the ink pots instead of using the pens. This makes them great for adding detail to brush lettering projects or adding little images. I also tried using them with a plastic dip pen and even though the nib was quite small in size it is another great way to use the inks.

Using the spray bottle on wet card and then applying the inks with a brush gives the inks a totally different watercolour look, these will be fab to add a little sparkle to watercolour Artwork.  The Green shades blend really well together but the Red being a much warmer colour didn’t blend in well with the Green.  I would have preferred it if the colours included in the packs are either 3 cooler shades or 3 warmer shades.

So would I buy them?  Yes I will certainly be trying some of the other colours in this range at some point.  They are very versatile, high quality inks and achieve beautiful glittery results.