Delicata Golden Glitz

Tsukineko has a fairly new pigment ink on the market called Delicata. I picked up this stamp pad and a reinker (Wherever possible, I buy a matching reinker when I purchase an ink pad. Nothing worse than running out of ink and not being able to find a reinker!) at my local stamp store and had a chance to try it out this weekend. The product info on the label says this will not fade or tarnish over time, and is best used on porous (uncoated) cardstock and most stunning when left unembossed.

I tried it out on white cardstock and was very impressed with the shimmer of the gold. It takes a few minutes longer to dry than, say, Brilliance, but I think it is worth the wait. Of course my new pad is very juicy, too, and my basement studio is cold, so that may have slowed the drying time.

I inked one side of an embossing folder (Sizzix Flourishes Floral Large) so that the gold would sink down into the impressions when it was run through the machine. I then sanded the high points of the olive cardstock to add a little more interest. 

I used the pad to edge the sentiment banner, then added a couple of thin accent strips of pindot green paper. I affixed all to the background and ran through the Cuttlebug machine to diecut the label shape. Then I ran the pad all around that edge to highlight the shape. After that dried, I mounted it to a 5.5x4.25 inch white card.

 I also tried it on black cardstock. That looked pretty good, too. Even though this is a pigment ink, it seems a little less thick than, say, Brilliance, and seems to handle fine lines fairly well. (Please ignore my wonky banner edging below!)

And lastly, I will leave you with a side by side comparison of the Delicata on the left (I wish you could see the shimmer in person)  and a freshly re-inked Brilliance Galaxy Gold on the right, which is paler and the coverage is not as fine and smooth. EDITED TO ADD: I have since tried stamping and then colouring with Copic markers and it does not smear!

Left: Delicata. Right: Brilliance.

I cannot say that I have ever noticed tarnishing of Brilliance over time, but that's mostly because I give all my cards away so I have no idea how they are holding up! I do know my gold embossing powder routinely needs to be replaced every few years as it tarnishes with age and loses its lustre, so I imagine that happens on the gold-embossed cards I have sent out, too. Delicata is a pretty neat alternative. The only drawback is you have to wait a bit for it to dry fully and you won't have the shiny raised image that heat embossing renders. Have you tried this ink? Please leave me a comment to tell me about your experience with it!