fizzi~jayne's crafty tips for stamping.... #1 types of ink

I've written about my love of stamping and if you would like to give it a go I thought I would write a series of posts to get you started, and I think you should as it's a lot of fun.  

I will cover:

• different types of ink
• basic materials needed
• how to stamp
• heat embossing  

In order to get perfect stamped results it's essential that you use the correct type of ink pad. 

My guide will take you through your options and hopefully will make the choice of ink pads available in your craft store less daunting....

Pigment Ink Pads

Pigment inks come in a wide range of colours.  They dry slowly which makes them ideal for embossing (more on that another time). 

You'll get bold colour results with these ink pads, you can also use them with a paint brush or water-brush to draw and paint with them.

However, they won't dry on non-porous surfaces such as vellum, glossy card and acetate unless they are heat embossed.

I use....

• Ranger Adirondack & Tsukineko VersaColor are both great for creating colourful backgrounds.

Other brands available

• Brilliance
• Clearsnap ColorBox Cat's Eye & Queue

I've not used these, not for any particular reason. I'm not brand loyal, I buy based on ink pad type and colour needed for a project.

Dye Based Ink Pads

Dye ink pads are water-based and dry very quickly.  They stamp clear images and won't bleed when they come into contact with alcohol based products such as ProMarker pens (which are the alcohol pens I use). 

However, they are unsuitable for embossing and they will bleed if used with any wet mediums such as watercolours.

I use....

• Ranger Distress Ink. I love these to create a vignette effect and inking edges to make a design pop! I'm starting to get a collection of colours now and they have creative names like Spiced Marmalade and Victorian Velvet.
• Tsukineko Memento which I use to stamp images for colouring with my Promarkers.

Plum Preserve Distress Ink was used for the vignette effect around the edges.  Memento and VersaColor Inks were used for butterflies and sentiment.

Teddy bears stamped with black Memento and coloured using Promarkers

Teddy bear image stamped with Memento ink and coloured with Promarkers.

Other brands available

• Tsukineko Kaleidacolour Rainbow
• Impress

Oil Based Ink Pads

Oil based inks are ideal for stamping very detailed images and they dry reasonably quickly. They repel water so they are suitable for using with watercolour techniques.  However, they're not recommended for colouring with pencils such as Derwent or alcohol pens and they won't dry on all surfaces although heat-setting may help.

I use 

• Tsukineko VersaMark, I'll go into this more when we talk about embossing because that is what it is perfect for as well as creating a watermark effect.
• Ranger Achival which I use for watercolouring and detailed images.

Archival ink was used to stamp the washing line and watercolour pencils used to colour the baby cloths. Distress ink were used around the edges.

Solvent Ink Pads

Solvent ink pads are permanent, fast drying and will stamp on a wide variety of surfaces such as acetate and they leave a crisp, detailed image.

However, a specialist stamp cleaner is required to clean your stamps which can ruin some acrylic stamps, which I found out by accident!  They're not suitable for children to use due to the solvent base and they can't be used with alcohol markers as the image will bleed. They can, however. be used with AquaMarkers (which I still need to try).

There is only one ink pad I am aware of and that is Tsukineko StazOn.  I rarely use this as I mainly use it for Acetate and other similar surfaces.

I hope you found this useful and I hope you will enjoy the series of stamping top tips and techniques and enjoy it as much as me.

Also in the crafty tips for stamping series....

#2 Basic Materials Needed

#3 How To Stamp