T-Rex Alcohol Inks: First Impressions


It seems like there are new brands of alcohol ink showing up every day. Earlier this year, I picked up a set of T-Rex inks after hearing good things about their quality. I picked mine up on Amazon (this is not a sponsored post--I paid for the inks).


I thought I'd share some of my first impressions of the inks in case you were wondering if any of these newer brands were any good or were looking to buy a beginner's set.


I bought the "Starter Set": it comes with 11 inks and a bottle of blending solution, and it retails for about $30. Which makes their price just slightly lower than Ranger inks and a bit more expensive than Pinata. T-rex currently has 3 different color sets (Starter Set, Warm Earth Tones and Cool Earth Tones) (compared to Pinata's 2 and about 33 colors compared to Ranger's 90+).


The bottles are this nice square shape which is easy to hold and come with color indicators on the top with their names clearly listed. The shapes of the bottles might make them difficult to store if you have a bunch of the round bottle variety of inks, but the color indicators were a welcome addition (and proved to be fairly accurate once the ink was thinned and spread). 


Next I decided to test out how it flowed. I put a single drop of ink (Tidal Teal) onto a ceramic tile and tilted the tile to watch the ink run. The color was vibrant, but it moved well without being thinned. Then I used a hand bulb to blow the ink around a bit to make sure it was dry and had moved as much as it was going to.


I decided to compare that to a similar color of Ranger ink (Mermaid) which didn't flow or spread out as much.


Then I added both the included blender and some rubbing alcohol and blew the inks around. They were very comparable in this test. Ranger's ink has more color within the ink that reveals itself as you are blowing it around--which can be both a good thing and a bad thing.  The blending solution provided in the set works well.


Next I decided to play. I used a bunch of colors to fill the tile, thinning with both the included blending solution and rubbing alcohol and blowing it around until the tile was full.


These inks were delightful to work with--to the point that I probably added a bit too much ink to the tile. I used 6 of their different colors to create my splash of ink tile.


Next I decided to test out how they behaved when stamping. I put a few drops of ink on a felt stamper and added a couple drops of rubbing alcohol and stamped the tile. I tried to use colors I hadn't used yet, so it got a bit bright. The ink stamped well, creating little cells and circles as the ink dried and became tacky. My only complaint with these inks is that the orange shade is not a true orange--more of a pale peach. So I hope they have a truer orange in one of their other sets.


These inks are lovely. They are as bright and saturated in color as Pinata inks without being quite as viscous/thick. They spread nicely and would be a great starter set (once they are back in stock) since they come with everything you need, ink wise.

These definitely get a thumbs up, and I can't wait to try more of their colors.

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