Here’s another fun tool in the Craft Geek line by Purple Cows– the “Roll It.” It’s a nifty roller-ball in an ergonomic grip that has 4 separate texture balls to give your projects panache.
On the website, it’s described thusly:
Craft Geek Roll It Rolling Pattern Stamps can be used to add borders, accents and creative techniques to your projects with ink or chalk. The four pattern stamp balls, snowflakes, dots, hearts and stars can be easily changed for a variety of artistic techniques. Roll It can also be used without ink to add texture to clay, foam and foils.
Let’s take a closer look:
In the set you get one handle, 4 texture balls, and a gasket that screws on to hold the texture balls in place. There are tiny ball bearings in the handle that allow the ball to rotate easily in the handle, and the textures on the balls are Stars, Hearts, Dots, and Snowflakes. (Although that last one looks like asterisks {*} to me.)
I loaded up a texture ball and started off trying it with stamp pads. To load ink onto it, you just rub the tool into the stamp pad- there’s no rocket science to it.
Here, I used the Star texture ball, with pigment ink on the left and dye ink on the right. You can see that the distribution of ink is uneven in some places- that’s because it’s a little hard to tell if you’ve gotten all areas inked up. I love the fact, though, that you can kind of “write” with it freestyle, as shown in the hearts. Fun!
The Roll It is also very ergonomically designs and fits beautifully in the hand- so much easier to hold and use than an foam dauber or alcohol ink applicator.
Here I used a metallic pigment ink to sample all of the textures. As you can see, it is near impossible to get a specific “line” of a shape- it all depends on how the ball is rotating in the chamber. But as long as you can embrace the randomness, you can have fun with it.
Here, I used the “hearts” to create a textured background for a postcard. I used the Hearts texture ball- but it’s only the subtlest of hints of hearts. You only notice it very close up.
Next, I used that same Heart texture ball to use with a stencil. Check it:
The Roll It worked remarkably well with the stencils- it just be my new favorite tool to use with them! I also liked being able to layer the colors.
Next, I tried some acrylic paints.
The result is great texture- but again the coverage is not particularly predictable.
Obviously, after this, I needed to really clean the texture ball. It’s easy enough to unscrew the cap and remove the little rubber ball- and just a quick rinse under the tap was pretty much all you need. For the inks, I actually just rolled the tool around on a wet wipe and it cleaned pretty well. However, I did gum up the ball bearings inside of the tool a bit, and needed to clean the inside pretty meticulously after the acrylic paint. So if you use paints, I heartily recommend you clean up immediately to avoid gumming up those ball bearings for good.
Next, I tried the tool on polymer clay:
I got texture, all right. You’ll see the little “dents”- I found it challenging to control the pressure needed to keep the ball moving- sometimes I pressed too hard to move the ball, and ripped or dented my clay.
Last, I decided to take my cue from the stencil sample, and use the tool more like an alcohol ink applicator, and use it to distress and add texture to the edges of a tag and patterned paper.
As you can see, the Roll It was very effective in adding the shading on the printed paper. I would certainly use it for this again. And with that tag, I decided “more” was MORE, so I layered a few extra colors and ultimately came up with this:
On the whole, this is very fun tool. The biggest drawback I can find is the storage of the extra texture balls. Unlike the Wind It, there is no built-in storage or included carrying bag- I’m just afraid these little buggers will bounce away from me!
For the price of $14.95 USD, I don’t feel like it’s far off the mark, considering that you are getting 4 texture tools in one. (By the way, Amazon has a great deal on a Craft Geek Tool Kit that has 4 tools in the line and some extras for under $50.) It’s certainly fun and easy to use, and I’ll be keeping it handy to experiment with further.
Your thoughts?
Make sure you read my other Purple Cows Craft Geek Reviews:
Disclosure: Sample provided for review.
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