Mudra Craft Stamps: There's A New Ink In Town!

Hi! I am very excited to do this post today because I am going to talk about our latest product! Mudra Craft Stamps recently introduced a new line of dye inks called Mai, which means inks in Tamil. There are 11 colours right now including a great black ink pad. The pads are full sized with raised pads which make inking the stamps very easy. The lids fit well and the pads are stackable, which is a great thing as it saves space. I also found the pads very juicy, but not so much that the ink leaks. Here are all the inks.

Aren't they beautiful? Here is the swatch I made with the colours. I love the gorgeous colours and the crisp stamping I got. There is a softness to the colours that reminded me of distress oxide inks. I was also impressed by the dark black of the Jet Black ink.

Mai inks give excellent second and third generation stamping, even with Lemon Yellow, which is the lightest colour.

For my first card, I used only stamping.

I started with a piece of ivory paper. I mounted the small floral stamps from Ferns & Leaves and Floral Banner stamp sets on small acrylic blocks. I used both first and second generation stamping to create an all-over pattern. For the leaves, I used third generation stamping with the Jet Black ink. I also used the tiny butterfly from the Butterfly Flutters stamp set to fill up the empty spaces. Here is the completed panel along with the ink pads I used.

The sentiment is from the Blooms Within mini stamp. I had initially planned on making this a one layer card. But after stamping I felt that the sentiment needed to pop a bit more. So I stamped it again on a piece of ivory paper, trimmed it o size and then blended some Lemon Yellow ink around the edges. Here is a closer look at the sentiment panel.

I adhered the stamped panel to a grey card base and added the sentiment after popping it up on some foam tape. I also added two grey fishtail banners on the sides of the sentiment panel as a finishing touch.

Here is a close-up of the completed card.

The next technique I wanted to try was ink blending. I took a piece of ivory paper and blended I blended Lemon Yellow, Tangerine Orange and Ruby Red. I found the inks super easy to blend. They looked a bit patchy initially. But smoothened out once dry. Here is the ink blended panel.

You can see a smooth transition colour that is really beautiful. I decided to do some distressing by adding droplets of water and allowed the panel to air dry. The result is really great.

Since I wanted to show off the gorgeous ombre look I created, I decided to do some simple stamping to create a background. Here is my completed card.

I mounted the large floral bunch from the Fresh Cut Roses stamp set on my stamp positioner and stamped it with Jet Black ink. I flipped the panel and stamped again. Notice the dark and crisp impressing that the Jet Black ink gives in the first shot itself. There is no need to stamp again. The sentiment is from the Floral Fantasy stamp set. I stamped it on a piece of black card stock and embossed with gold EP.

To finish, I trimmed and adhered the stamped panel to a black card base. I cut a mat out of foiled gold paper, added it to the card and then adhered the sentiment panel to it after popping it up on some foam tape. Here is a look at the completed card.

I also tried blending the ink through a stencil. I taped a piece of ivory card stock to the mandala from the Arabic Patterns stencil and applied Sky Blue and Cornflower Blue inks through it.

I rotated the stencil a bit and taped it again. This time I applied Fuchsia Pink and Flamingo Pink inks through the stencil.

Notice the crisp edges and the lovely overlap of colours I got. I will share the card I make out of this later.

For my third and final card, I wanted to try some ink smooshing.

This is my favourite card today. I just love the gorgeous panel I got with the Mai inks and some water.

I started with a panel of watercolour paper. I took a piece of acetate and smooshed some Lemon Yellow ink on it. After spraying with water, I pressed the acetate into the paper which I had already dampened a bit. Next, I added Sky Blue, Cornflower Blue, Ultraviolet and Lilac the same way. I dried the paper with my heat gun and added more colour to get some layering. Here is the completed panel along with the inks I used.

I just love the effect I got. This again reminds me a bit of the distress oxide inks. Here is a close-up of the panel.

I die cut a panel out of one half, leaving the rest for another card. I stamped the flowers from the Floral Fantasy stamp set and drew the stems by hand. The paper I used is very textured and not very suitable for stamping. But I got a perfect impression the first time with the Jet Black ink. The sentiment is from the Wishing You stamp set. I simply covered part of the sentiment with some tape before inking and then heat embossed it with lilac EP. Here is a closer look at the panel.

I mounted the panel on some foam tape and added the sentiment again popped up on foam tape.

I have tried stamping, blending and smooshing with the Mai inks till date with really wonderful results. The only thing that didn't work out was using Jet Black ink with water. But it worked well with my alcohol markers when I did a sample swatch. There are more techniques I want to try with these wonderful inks. I will be posting more cards as I make them.

I am really impressed with the Mai inks. The price is really great for the kind of quality that Mudra is offering. I hope you give these great inks a try. The theme for our challenge this month is Anything Goes.