I recently bought a pack of rolled ink textures, and they were part of a set. The quality was disappointing. They looked wishy-washy, not bold enough for my taste; they were really skimping on the ink. So, in my usual fashion, I’m going to quite literally roll my own.
Perfection in imperfection
If you’ll excuse me for quoting John Ruskin (a prominent social thinker and philanthropist)
"To banish imperfection is to destroy expression, to check exertion, to paralyze vitality." – John Ruskin, The Stones of Venice
Rolled ink can produce some amazing imperfect texture patterns, kind of like block printing or letterpress printing. Each print is unique, and it’s those imperfections (he was right, John Ruskin) - that I want for my textures. They are perfect to grunge up your photos, text and illustrations or just to give your design work that extra something. I’m not going to stop there, oh no dog.
Extra ink texture
I’m going to add extra texture by putting the paper on different surfaces. So when I run the roller over the paper, it will pick up a bit of texture from that surface. All I need is ink, a roller, paper and some glass to roll the ink onto. Lucky for me, I have all that, so time to get busy.
My black rolled ink textures
Here they are, I think they look fantastic, it took me a few hours of work, but it was worth the effort. I had to wait a day for the ink to dry before scanning and cleaning in Photoshop. I can only create about 20 at a time as I just don’t have the space for them to dry. I’ll use a washing line and pegs next time. These textures are available to buy right now in my shop.
Conclusion
Rolled ink is awesome. It’s a must-have for your design toolbox that can completely transform your designs. I, for one, can’t get enough of them and will be creating another set with even more texture very soon.
Stay classy.