Ink Coverage: Okay the black is great !!! but with the brights over darks its never gonna be that solid looking, so warn the punters !! Over a similar tone or lighter the colours ZING !!!
And the colours also feel way more plasticky than the black, like they just wanna dry straight up ! And it feels harder to get off when dry !
I feel that people tend to under ink the blocks, you can put loads on and it can look all gloopy and textured, but it takes that much ink for a solid image.
I have included a drying retarder in the order list going out to the REBEL REBEL stage, use 3-5% which I reckon will make things easier ? but you will have to use your judgement.
Alternatively you could add a little water, if I do not want something to dry out then I leave a damp cloth over it . . you need to keep experimenting to get the best results in the conditions.
STOP CLEAN, REST THEN START AGAIN !!!!
During the Rebellion the teams seemed intent on working all day without stopping and cleaning the blocks, if you go this route the blocks become horribly caked in ink, quality drops, and you get exhausted. I think 3 hrs and then stop, clean, rest, start again. Do not underestimate how tiring it is facilitating these workshops, and the blocks get way harder to clean the longer the ink is on there !!!
When cleaning I use a soak, scrape, soak, dig with chopstick, soak, scrub , repeat etc...technique.
So that the soaking minimises the work, and minimises the scrubbing erosion that they get.
Obviously dry blocks fully before putting away and pack them so that they don't smash each other up, Tetris style, in a case box , please no chucking them in a bag.
You have been using the standard colours, they also make a GLOW colour range, they are stunningly expensive !!!! but this is up to you if you wanna go this route, also we have not used green yet, Clive says that green text does not read so well, I trust him. I am just cutting some blocks of the inverted CND symbol, as used by Polly Higgins, it's the rune ALGIZ, life, beginning, protection. I feel some MAKE ECOCIDE LAW blocks coming,
good luck out there
permaset heat curing instructions are below