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Does anyone know if high humidity affects certain types of ink? I can't seem to get a good impression from lots of different kinds of ink. Certain colors from Papertrey's ink cubes, my SU baja breeze cube just to name a few. All the solid stamps I've tried to use (clear and rubber--well conditioned) come out splotchy and uneven. It is so frustrating! At first I thought it was just certain Papertrey colors, and was prepared to contact customer service, but then I just tried using Baja Breeze and it was the same thing!
That's a good point. But I'm thinking I may be in the minority here, since there weren't many replies. Which tells me there aren't many people having the same problem.
Just out of curiosity, for those of you living in humid areas, have you had the AC running most of this summer? Because I haven't, and am wondering if this is the problem.
I live in southern coastal Georgia, have the air conditioner on a lot, but it doesn't reach my play room. I have a small fan in there that I use when I'm in there. It's hot and humid here, but I haven't had any trouble with my ink pads that I've noticed. And I have some of every brand on the market. I don't know what could be causing it.
__________________ Keep what is worth keeping
and with the breath of kindness
blow the rest away.
I noticed that you said your stamps have been conditioned which I assume means that you have roughed them up so they will hold the ink better. Are you using some type of cushion under your paper when you stamp? I have a mat that I use with both my wood mounted stamps and my clear stamps and it really helps. I live in Savannah, GA where it is quite humid and I don't seem to have any real problems with my ink.
I have trouble, mostly with lighter colors of ink. You might try inking your stamp in Versamark first, then in your ink color of choice, and then stamping onto your cardstock. I live in Texas, and it's VERRRRRRRYYYYYYYYYYYY hot and SUPER humid, but I run my A/C year round (almost). I did have some trouble with my Ocean Tides & Ripe Avocado cubes the other day, but I eventually got some good, even impressions. Good luck! I know it's frustrating. :(
Humidity could definitely be affecting your paper, which in turn will impact the quality of the stamped image (living in NC, I know humidity!). Try "drying" the paper by hitting it with a blow dryer or (more carefully) a heat embossing gun prior to stamping and see if you have better luck.
I find that if I'm using solid stamps, pigment inks work best. You need a thick ink to give a solid, even impression. Sometimes Palette inks work well, but you have to keep the stamp in place for about 5 seconds so that the ink can be absorbed into the paper. HTH.
I think Nicole once talked about this--that Palette inks look blotchy at first when stamped but then even out, and that seems to be my experience. Maybe search her blog and see if I'm remembering correctly. Do your images stay blotchy?
__________________ Lauri G.
Blessed wife and mom
TAC demo #2239
I've noticed that my clear stamps don't work as well with dye inks for some reason. Must be whatever they are made of. They do need to be conditioned, and even then some of them just seem to work better with pigment ink. Go figure!
I think Nicole once talked about this--that Palette inks look blotchy at first when stamped but then even out, and that seems to be my experience. Maybe search her blog and see if I'm remembering correctly. Do your images stay blotchy?
They usually even out if I leave the stamp in place for a few seconds.
I have a lot of trouble with blotchy ink. I just used "Roses in Winter" yesterday and the largest rose image was horribly blotched. We have the air on and a dehumidifier in the basement, so I don't think it is that humid. I always stamp on a hard surface, because that is what my demonstrator told me to do. Maybe I should try a padded surface.
Then in the winter it seems that the ink pads dry out or something, because the stamps don't ink up very well at all. My stamping area is in the basement, so it is cooler in the winter
I have just given up that that is the nature of the beast.
Hmmmm. Mine still looks blotchy today. Also sometimes I can see the weave of the fabric on the top of the stamp pad in my stamped image. Reinking didn't seem to fix it either.
I didn't notice if you said how you store your paper. Some of the ideas and talk went that direction. I have all my stuff in the basement. It is not a finished basement but a nice large spacey place where I have ALL my stuff set up. I haven't noticed an ink problem but I also keep all my papers in a Sterlite or rubbermaid container with a lid just for the reason I have always worried about ruining my papers in dampness. And again with this storage system I have never had any problems.
Good luck
__________________ It's all fun and games until someone gets glitter in their eye.
It doesn't matter how old you are as long as you get presents.
I spent an hour and a half last week trying to get my Inspired by Nature grass stamp to leave a good impression. I tried everything I've learned here at SCS to remedy the problem, but no luck. It really upset me that I never could get it to work, so I finally gave up my original plan to stamp on neutral cardstock and used a green printed dp instead. It worked okay as it didn't show the "missed" spots, but I am still very disappointed that I won't be able to use the stamp as I intended. I'm rethinking purchasing anymore of the solid stamps.
Problems with Dye Ink
