Wide world of inks

Expression, July-August, 2005 by Kathie Gillaspey

If I had written this article 10 or 12 years ago, it would have gone something like this: There are two types of inks--dye inks and pigment inks. Dye inks are thin-bodied, brightly colored inks that dry quickly by evaporation. They work well on absorbent papers but won't dry on non-porous surfaces. It's best to color images with colored pencils, as water-based markers or watercolors will cause the outlines to run and smear. Keep stamped images away from light, as they are prone to fading.

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Pigment inks are thick-bodied, opaque colors that dry by absorption. They sit on top of whatever they're stamped on and will eventually dry on porous paper. They will not dry on glossy, coated card stock. However, because of their slow drying time, they are perfect to use with your favorite colored embossing powder or clear embossing powder. Their color is very stable and will not fade. Because they are water-based, unless first embossed, they will run if used with other water-based medium such as markers or paints.

There it is--an article comparing ink in the dark ages. If only it were that easy today. Back in those days, once we mastered when to use either of the two types of ink available, we were free to pursue more difficult tasks like "masking." Sure, life was easier, but we were terribly limited to the things we could stamp on. How did we live without being able to stamp on dominoes or glass?

Today, the six major ink companies (Clearsnap, Jacquard, Marvy, Ranger, Stewart Superior and Tsukineko) offer more than a whopping 1,500 choices combined. If you are anything like the typical addicted stamper, and follow the "Rules of Acquisition," you own a good number of these inks, whether you admit to it or not!

Along with dye and pigment inks, there are now chalk inks, heat-set inks, permanent inks, alcohol, fabric and watercolor varieties, to name a few, just waiting for us to get our inky fingers on. They are available in an endless supply of colors whose sample swatches could easily fill an entire paint chip rack at your local home-improvement store. How is the savvy stamper, scrapbook fanatic, fabric or book artist to know which one to use when? How do we know which ones are must haves and which ones you might never need? Okay, that last question was just to see if you were paying attention ... of course you need them all!

First: The Basics

Well, you already know about dye vs. pigment ink from my informative description that began this journey. What other types have the great Gods of inks bestowed upon us in the past 10 years or so? If memory serves me correct, one of the first great improvements in the ink arena was the introduction of a heat-set ink. An ink that could be stamped on a non-porous surface and then dried with a heat tool, thereby rendering it permanent. It still was categorized as a pigment ink, but it was so much more. It was offered in packaging that gave us eight colors that could actually be removed from the base, used individually or together, like a rainbow pad--a rainbow pad that could be configured anyway your little heart desired. We were able to stamp on non-porous surfaces without embossing, as long as they could take the heat.

After heat-set inks another revolutionary idea surfaced--dye inks that were semi-permanent. We not only stamped with them but when they dried thoroughly, we could use water-based markers or watercolors without the image smearing.

Then the choices started coming fast and furious. New metallic pigment inks were introduced. Some could be made permanent by heat-setting, others were just more fabulously sparkly pigment inks. New solvent-based permanent inks and non-solvent-based permanent inks were introduced. The old solvent inks were actually around in the "old days," but were so messy and unforgiving that only a few brave souls used them. All it took was getting it on your favorite Grateful Dead T-shirt one time to keep you away from it forever. And who could forget that head-spinning solvent odor! The new inks had little or no smell, stayed wet on the stamp pad and could easily be cleaned with new stamp cleaners and a little elbow grease.

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In the meantime, the choices for colors in both dye and pigment inks seemed to explode. Unique packaging ideas were being introduced. The inks in the removable bases were being sold in wedges of eight coordinating colors that fit together to form a handy-dandy round package. No more guessing which color went best with which. Plus they were stackable! Which was a good thing, because they were offered in more than one color palette ... and we just had to have them all.

A new type of rainbow dye pad was introduced that allowed you to separate the colors when storing the pad so they wouldn't blend into each other and turn a muddy brown as was often the case with the older rainbow pads. Old standbys were available in smaller packing so that it was more affordable to collect them all and definitely easier to cart off to a stamp club, on a cruise or to a retreat.