What Is An Edge Ink?

[Ellen]

I saw some posts with edge ink mentioned. What is it? Artist's acrylic ink from art supply store?

Thanks.

[Art]

It is Acrylic Paint. This is what you see on many factory edges, it can be applied by machine. Fiebing's Edge Kote is one of those, and works fairly well. The stuff they use in factories is quite a bit thicker. Any of them are best applied with a piece of wool felt. Paints can be applied over anything, but they lay on top and are susceptible to chipping. Putting paint on a well burnished edge may be covering up a good thing. Dyeing a burnished edge will work as well or better than paint. Make sure when dying the edge that you don't use any sealer like Gum Trag or beeswax to burnish, or the dye won't penetrate. Painting just makes life easier for the factories, it might not wear well a year down the road. If you are using the same color edge, you can dye it after sanding and edging without too much problem, but contrasting color is harder to control during application and many folks wait till after burnishing to apply a contrasting dye.

I kind of rambled on there, hope I answered your question.

Art

I saw some posts with edge ink mentioned. What is it? Artist's acrylic ink from art supply store?

Thanks.

[Ellen]

Yes, this is kind of information what I was looking for. Lifetime of learning

Thank you!