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Artists Asked...How Do I Spot Frozen Ink?
How can I tell if my ink froze at any time on its way to me?
Great question… As fellow Canadian Winter Survivors, we’ve learned a thing or two about shipping ink during the winter months..
Because your ink order can spend anywhere from 10hrs to 5 days in UPS warehouses and trucks, with varying temperature changes along the way, when it finally does arrive, it’s sometimes hard to tell if your favourite bottle of ink is cool, cold or straight up frozen. So, let’s break it down…
- Check the bottle. If your ink cap and/or seal is broken, that's a good sign that your ink expanded due to freezing.
- Check the ink. Is it visibly separated in the bottle? (with some inks this may be more or less obvious)
- Let the ink rest at room temperature, then give it a shake. Does it mix back up? If the answer is no, your ink has been frozen (or you need more practice shaking ink).
- Still not sure? Dump some ink into a pigment cap, or onto a barriered surface, if it’s chunky like bad milk, or slushy like a snow cone then you, my friend, have frozen ink.
You know our motto: Friends Don’t Let Friends Freeze Ink, but ensuring that your ink arrives safe and sound during Canadian winters is truly an art form, and one we’ve perfected over the past 30 years of shipping ink to Canadian artists. Rebecca and the Customer Service team do everything they can to make sure that your ink arrives in liquid form. How, you may ask?
- EVERY ink order shipped between November 1st and March 31st automatically leaves the Eikon Warehouse packed with at least one FREE 72-hour heat pack to keep it cozy along the way
- We keep our eyes peeled for “at risk” orders, reach out to artists who’ve shipped Ground to advise of the potential risk of freezing and help them upgrade to Air, or we’ll even help split the order so that they’re only paying Express Shipping on the items that need it.
- Ink orders placed on Fridays (sometime earlier) are kept safe and warm in our warehouse instead of being locked in a truck all weekend, lonely and cold, and burning up that heat pack we added.
Did you know?
Packages shipped via Express are never left in the cold. They’re always stored indoors, every step of the way.
For more tips on preventing frozen ink in transit, visit our Help Centre.
