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I would weigh in but my pads are old too. My go to inks used to be Marvy for watercolor and Sugarloaf for permanent ink; both brands are long gone and those pads are dying on me :( I even have green and brown PSX pads that are ironically still going strong but those two colors are not enough.
See what I mean about old, I'm keeping an eye on your thread for recommendations too.
I was wondering about the beloved Marvy fans and how their inks were doing. It seems like our old tried and true favorites are seeing their retirement age. SU Classic's, Marvy & Adirondack. :(
Girls that is what I am looking for- I remember the days when Marvy and SU were our trend inks. Now, I am on the hunt for the new trend classics.
You know I still have my beloved Marvy Brush markers. I keep them refilled and they still work like new.
First off, I have to tell you that I am VERY envious that you are able to ink up a stamp with any type of marker! I've tried multiple times, but I'm just not able to produce anything that I like this way...
If you use markers most of the time, it totally makes sense to make your own cubes rather than investing in a whole line of ink pads. You could even make them on an as-needed basis, so you only ended up with the colors that you will actually use. The down side of that idea is that you will probably have to order online and wait for the inks to show up before moving on. Maybe order some favorite colors and go from there...?
That is so sweet, thank you. I have been stamping since the 70's when I was a little girl. I didn't have access to all the pretty colors of ink pads back then. I wanted pretty colors so I used my Crayola Markers all the way until I was in my thirties and got my SU pads, lol. I did go to brush markers when I discovered them. I guess I have a lot of practice.
I am definitely going to have to order online whatever decision I make. That is not a problem. I am not close to the craft stores any more. I am kind of close to Hobby Lobby. I will not buy inks from there. Too many dried pads or defective ones, at least for my store.
What about using some of the reinkers you have in water brushes. Since you are used to using markers with stamps this would be similar but open up your color and type of ink options greatly.
My take is it’s all just ink - dye, pigment, hybrids - so trendy doesn’t really apply.
The oddballs (in a good way) to me are:
- Distress (been around a long time, great for techniques including watercoloring but not so much for stamping),
- Distress Oxide (amazing, my desert island inks for techniques and stamping and painterly effects since somewhat opaque - which means you can layer complementary colors if somewhat dry without making mud - and more),
- Versafine Clair (crisp, extremely good for details, can heat emboss many minutes after stamping even if it feels dry)
- various black inks for Copics, watercoloring, etc.
If someone has Full Set Syndrome - and say is in the market for dye inks - maybe look at colors of different brands to see which you’re drawn to. And container type. For example I don’t like inks with attached lids. Are cubes a must? Re-inkers? How about light-to-dark colors? (Check out IO’s.) Once you drill down to couple of brands, ask if people have had any issues with those brands or with customer service. Then pull out a wallet and get inky.
What about using some of the reinkers you have in water brushes. Since you are used to using markers with stamps this would be similar but open up your color and type of ink options greatly.
Brilliant solution! The only down side I can see is the $$ involved in acquiring a lot of water brushes - they can get quite spendy. However, it would be a good way to discover which colors might require a cube instead or in addition...
Brilliant solution! The only down side I can see is the $$ involved in acquiring a lot of water brushes - they can get quite spendy. However, it would be a good way to discover which colors might require a cube instead or in addition...
I don't know how picky you are about your water brushes, but if you search for those on Ebay (specify in Crafts), you can find a TON of inexpensive ones!
For my 2 cents here, I have a few old TAC pads, including my absolute favorite India black- which is my go-to black ink. I bought them cheap & used years ago, only the black had a reinker. Those are the best darn pads I've ever used. Only wish I could have found more colors and some reinkers.
Anybody have experience with reinking a pad with a different brand of ink?
Well the hottest and trendiest might be the next set of Distress Oxide Ink colors coming out in July. You will be at the pinnacle of hot and trendy if you snag those. I think Gina K is one of the newest of the dye inks that�s getting good reviews.
Would love to know if there is any news about a new set of oxide colors. Are you sure there will be a set 4 in July ?
What about using some of the reinkers you have in water brushes. Since you are used to using markers with stamps this would be similar but open up your color and type of ink options greatly.
That is so brilliant. See, how you brilliant you are. You know I am always filling water brushes with everything. I have been making my own "Mermaid Markers" Never thought to try them out on stamps.
bjeans- Thank you for the list. I am good on Blacks, thank gosh. I am full set syndrome girl. I am thinking Versafine Clair, and doing the waterbrush thing. (Thanks Stacy)
Sue- You can get waterbrushes cheap off of Ebay. I always pick up a few every month. I was being serious when I say I fill them up with everything. I hardly touch my paintbrushes now. That might not be a good thing, lol.
contrapat- I love TAC. I miss them. Thanks a lot you made me homesick, ROFL. TAC always reminds me of home and Kansas. I loved their stamps so much. I never even knew they sold stamp accessories and inks. I always thought they sold stamps. Back then I didn't have all that great stamp knowledge available like we do today. Girls- I am telling you the first time I saw colored inks in ten billion colors I almost fainted, lol.
I still have my old TAC ink pads from when I was a demo. They're Palette, made by Stewart Superior. SS also makes the ink pads for many companies that are popular right now, including Impression Obsession. I love my Palette ink pads; they're my go-to choice.
If you are looking for archival ink, check out Ranger's Archival Ink. Many colors and they have mini pads which are an easier size to use on a MISTI type tool. I would love to "collect" all their mini pads.
LOVE the new VersaFine Clair and Catherine Pooler inks and have most of the colors. I seem to be an ink collector and have many brands...Hero Arts, Archival, My Favorite Things, Gina K, Brutus Monroe, Distress, Distress Oxide, Altenew, Simon Says Stamp, etc. I really like mini cube ink pads now for use with my MISTI and for traveling convenience.
aww shucks :oops: ...and I came up with the idea after only one cup of coffee.
Quote:
a good way to discover which colors might require a cube instead or in addition...
and a good way to continue using an ink that you still have a reinker for but that the pad has become unusable for whatever reason. I have an ink that I loved but had to toss so now the reinker just sits there untouched. Why didn't you ask this question before! ;)
Stacy, that comment about Marvy comeback camp made me think of something. I know Marvy make blank pads for you to use with your own ink colours/blends. They are dye based inks so the pads are the firm fabric type. I don't see why you couldn't buy the blank pads, and then use with any dye reinker. Also, Ranger brought out blank pads too, a year or two ago. Same type of pad. Marcopaper.com.
Link to a source of the blank pads. Joann
Link to the blank Distress pads.
I've thought about the blank pads, just haven't gotten around to placing an order. I'm more of a "go purchase it" kinda gal which is easy most of the time since I live in a large metro area, except for blank-empty pads. Just can't seem to motivate myself to place an order for just blanks and besides the ink pad I mentioned was on foam so not sure it would work on linen.
Interestingly until I typed this yesterday I hadn't realized that my favs were the exact same size and shape, a.k.a. square but slightly smaller with higher pads than Ranger's.
Well, because I have been gardening, lol. Yes, finally my garden is becoming my little English Garden I had planned all along. I didn't cry this year, lol.
Thank you girls for all of this. I really do appreciate it. If anybody is not chiming in because they think maybe their recommendations might cost too much money. Please, chime in. This is going to come out so bad and I don't mean too. I do have money to spend on new ink pads.
The money I budget for games this year has just been freed up. I have no games coming out until next Spring or next Gen consoles. I really do need to update some of my art supplies. As an example, my Gesso went bad, lol. I had to adopt some new Gesso for my home tonight.
I know I am usually one of the girls over here saying "Don't spend money on that!" I invest for long run. Saves me more money and is more frugal for me.
Gives us all the 411 on any type of ink pads that are beautiful classic trends.
Right now I am thinking-
Brush Markers (Great on those but thinking of adding another set.)
Waterbrush Markers filled with reinkers.
Stampin Up's new revamp
Versafine Clair
I still have my old TAC ink pads from when I was a demo. They're Palette, made by Stewart Superior. SS also makes the ink pads for many companies that are popular right now, including Impression Obsession. I love my Palette ink pads; they're my go-to choice.
My 'learned something new today' right here! I didn't know that Stewart Superior (Palette) made the TAC ink pads! I first tried Palette on recommendation from my first design team gig. They work nicely with Copic markers, although I most-often use Memento for line-art images. In part, Memento is so easily found, as are their reinkers. I am looking forward to trying Gina K's Amalgam ink for multi-purpose image stamping very soon.
And, I'm in the process of trying to choose "which colors to try" from the new VersaFine Clair pads. Definitely hard to choose just 2 or 3 for sampling! lol While I'm not typically as much into "trendy" inks as some, I do enjoy the fun of the Distress Oxides for inky techniques and their unique appearance in backgrounds.
I think it's important to consider your preferred colors when choosing inks, paying attention to whether you prefer clear, fresh colors, or earthy, muted tones, etc. And if one likes a mixed collection, that's great too. What we might have enjoyed using in the past may need to be moved out to make room for our updated preferences in stamping. (Now I need to take action on my own words, and let some of my own inks move on to play on someone else's crazy table.) :rolleyes:
I love Gina K and her stuff, but the Amalgam black ink has a strong enough smell that I may not be able to use it. I’m not that sensitive to ink/paint smells, but I had to quickly close the larger ink pad. The cube may be better since it has a smaller surface/less ink. And maybe the smell will dissipate since it was just the first time it was opened since being manufactured.
I only post this because some folks are sensitive to chemical odors. Again, Gina K and her supplies are lovely. And I hope someone else weighs in on this.
bjeans- Thank you for altering about the smell. I am sensitive to smells. I was about ready to buy that one.
I love Gina too. I bet that probably didn't even dawn on her when she was designing her ink that the formulation could have a strong smell. I know my art supplies. Some are just smelly to do what they need to do. I know it's never done on intention. I am always glad to be warned so I know in advance.
Girls- are any of the other inks that are popular right now smelly? I am so glad bjeans did bring this up. I forgot all about ink smells. Do the new SU inks have a strong smell or Versafine Clair?
Dee Ann, I've just done the sniff test on my Clairs, as I haven't noticed any smell at all from them in use.
Up close to my nose, there is a very, very faint smell that I can only describe as maybe earthy.
Typically, I can smell Staz-ons Almondy smell just with the pad open on my desk, if that's any indication.
I also just learned something on my keyboard, due to catching the Ctrl button and the Shift key at the same time, lol. It turns your writing italic!
Shaz- Thank you for doing the smell test. New computer trick too. I forgot Ctrl Shift is Italic.
My DH always teases me that the StazOn is probably cyanide, lol. You know Almond-Cyanide. I told him there are some girls that love their StazOn smell so much they probably would eat the pad if they could, lol.
I love this thread and I made me do some testing (and buying) of inks.
#1 is Versafine Clair (I have all 24 colors- Rubber Necker Stamps at the Santa Clara Scrapbook Expo had them for $7) The saturation is fantastic. Every aspect of the solid stamp soaks into the paper and gives a crisp image. I haven't done this yet but, it can be heat embossed several minutes after stamping. There have been some complaints that the ink stains the stamps and you need Stazon ink remover to fix that (which you can't use on your polymer stamps or you will fry them!!). I use a damp "Absorber" cloth that I bought at the automotive store to clean my stamps after single or multiple use. I saw no staining and had no ghosts of past colors used in my stamping. There was question if there would be refills and I spotted them on EllenHutson.com.
#2 Versafine regular (I have 8 colors plus black). Still wins for details and good saturation, but not as many color options. However, if I need to stamp a word, I will still use this.
#3 Distress inks (not Oxide) (I have 3 colors plus black). Okay saturation, has little white dots
#4 Memento inks (I have 3 plus black). Okay saturation, again, not a solid image, leaves little white dots
#5 (last place!) Stampin Up! The new ink pads just suck. They make little bubbles on the stamp and you have to wait for the bubbles to pop or you get a mottled stamped image. Yes, I've wiped off the excess ink... but that seems so weird to waste ink like that and it still didn't fix it totally. Reinkers on a new uninked spot pad resulted in better results but not by much. If the ink is too juicy, you lose detail and the edges are fuzzy. NOT OKAY. In fact, I began to question the health of my stamps and quality of my new stamps, when it turned out I needed to switch inks! Some of my old ink pads are better than the new ink pads!
I will post my color swatches in the next post if possible.
pics comparing Versafine Clair, regular, Stampin Up, and a Tombow pen
here are some pics.
(sorry can't seem to turn the pic!)
Stampin Up Tree from Rooted in Nature with Versafine Clair Rain Forest, Gumball Green, Versafine Clair Nocturne, Versafine Onyx black, Versafine Spanish Moss.
Words- an assortment of Versafine regulars and SU colors versus the Clair in black and rain forest green.
Hi Makani, totally agree about the Versafine Clair. I never thought that the originals could be improved, but these are even better. I also have no problem with the inks staining my clear stamps, but I did see GinaK saying in a video that staining of photopolymer is actually a sign of a good quality stamp. Happy that there seem to be re-inkers, although as usual, I expect very few UK stores will stock them! That's a common issue over here.
Over all, I always get way better stamping, both line detail and solid stamps, from both the Versafines, than I do with Memento or even Archival.
