13 October 2010

American Crafts Zing!



According to American Crafts, Zing! can add “color and dimension to any project” and “has the smoothest opaque finish available.” American Crafts is known for being modern and trendy and they do not disappoint here. There are over 30 rich, on-trend colors to choose from in a variety of 4 finishes:  metallic, opaque, fluorescent & glitter. The powders, easily found online and in retail locations sell for $4.00 for a 1 oz. pot. Considering the amount of impact an embossed image can have, and the miniscule amount of the actual powder I used on my numerous test projects, you definitely get your money’s worth.
I had an opportunity to sample the following finishes & colors:
Metallic: purple, blue, copper
Opaque: black, rouge, apricot, mustard, charcoal, brown sugar
Glitter: blue, black, copper, red
Armed with my trusty embossing pad, stamps and heat gun I got to work with the powders. I stamped mostly on the smooth side of the AC Cardstock. The powder adheres very well to the stamped area. I didn’t have any difficulty with the powder sticking on blank areas of the paper. Here are some samples of the various finishes in action – first up, Opaque:
(starfish: Opaque: brown sugar; sentiment: Opaque: rouge; anchor:  Metallic: blue on AC Cardstock: grey)

(Opaque: apricot on matching AC Cardstock)
The opaque finish is smooth and maintained the fine detail of these stamps with no problem at all. In addition, the powder colors along with the AC Cardstock work very well together – as seen in the orange card above. In addition, the labeling on the top of the containers is almost an exact match to the finished product – a helpful feature when selecting color for a project. (This is especially true for the Opaque and Metallic finishes, the labeling on the Glitter pots is not as color accurate – but still pretty close.)
The Glitter finish provides the most impact and is a very easy, mess-free way to add a little bling to any stamped project. The finishes are vibrant and the glitter is very reflective & metallic. (I did notice, however, that the black glitter powder did not set as shiny and reflective as the other colors.)
(Glitter finish: red)

(Glitter finish: blue)
And finally, the Metallic finish:
(Metallic finish: copper)
The Metallic finish powders really look like metal when they are heat set. This is especially true with the copper pictured above.
Anyone who stamps would find this product useful and would appreciate the variety of color, finish & quality.



1 comment:

  1. Fantastic. Thanks a lot for this. I'm always on the look out for new embossing powders

    ReplyDelete

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