<p>This is because you're resin has a high viscosity and the alcohol ink has a low viscosity but high surface tension.</p>
<p>In layman's terms the resin is thick, and the ink holds its shape well. So when you add the ink to the resin the ink doesn't want to go anywhere and the resin doesn't give it the chance to go anywhere because it presses against it and keeps it in place.</p>
<p>There's a lot more to it than this, but this is the TLDR version.</p>
<p>If you want your ink to bloom your best bet is to either to encourage it to move around, which I tend to do with a thin wooden toothpick, or to make your resin less viscous. A good was to do this is to warm your resin up. I sometimes do this by mixing my resin in a thin plastic jug or pot that's sitting in a basin of warm water. The hotter the water the runnier the resin. It's complicated to figure out exactly how hot you want the water as there are a lot of factors involved. The rule of thumb it that it should be cool enough that you can put your hands in it for 5-10 seconds without it stinging. Normal common sense rules apply about boiling water and burns. I shouldn't need to include them here as we're all adults and you can look them up seperately.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2024-02-25T10:11:36.350Z
2024-02-25T10:11:36.350Z
Aaargh Zombies
<p>I'm fairly new with this craft, 2 years BUT not steady because of discouraging results so .....
Can anyone tell me please how do I get the pretty or  results when I add color to my epoxy resin the white alcohol ink? When I add the white alcohol ink on top of the color it doesn't activate and start that beautiful process of spreading or Blooming, it's just there and it ends up just being color being right where I put the drops . I hope someone understands my question and can tell me what I'm doing wrong.
TIA</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2024-02-10T07:39:36.897Z
Hi, can you add some pictures of what you want to achieve, and what you've been getting so far?
Joachim
CC BY-SA 4.0
2024-02-11T09:22:35.477Z
Another question: do you have this problem only with the white ink or with other colors as well? Please click [edit] to add more information to your existing question. In the edit mode you can also add pictures, but because of size constraints you'll probably have to crop photos made on a phone.
Elmy
<epoxy-resin><color>
Working with epoxy resin crafts/colors blooming or spreading
DUUUHG
# Working with epoxy resin crafts/colors blooming or spreading

(Asked by: username_0 on 2024-02-09)

I'm fairly new with this craft, 2 years BUT not steady because of discouraging results so .....
Can anyone tell me please how do I get the pretty or results when I add color to my epoxy resin the white alcohol ink? When I add the white alcohol ink on top of the color it doesn't activate and start that beautiful process of spreading or Blooming, it's just there and it ends up just being color being right where I put the drops . I hope someone understands my question and can tell me what I'm doing wrong.
TIA

**Tags:** epoxy-resin, color

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: Hi, can you add some pictures of what you want to achieve, and what you've been getting so far?  
> **username_2**: Another question: do you have this problem only with the white ink or with other colors as well? Please click [edit] to add more information to your existing question. In the edit mode you can also add pictures, but because of size constraints you'll probably have to crop photos made on a phone.  

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## 1 answers

### Answer by username_3 on 2024-02-25. Score: 1

This is because you're resin has a high viscosity and the alcohol ink has a low viscosity but high surface tension.

In layman's terms the resin is thick, and the ink holds its shape well. So when you add the ink to the resin the ink doesn't want to go anywhere and the resin doesn't give it the chance to go anywhere because it presses against it and keeps it in place.

There's a lot more to it than this, but this is the TLDR version.

If you want your ink to bloom your best bet is to either to encourage it to move around, which I tend to do with a thin wooden toothpick, or to make your resin less viscous. A good was to do this is to warm your resin up. I sometimes do this by mixing my resin in a thin plastic jug or pot that's sitting in a basin of warm water. The hotter the water the runnier the resin. It's complicated to figure out exactly how hot you want the water as there are a lot of factors involved. The rule of thumb it that it should be cool enough that you can put your hands in it for 5-10 seconds without it stinging. Normal common sense rules apply about boiling water and burns. I shouldn't need to include them here as we're all adults and you can look them up seperately.


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