Rubber Stamp Ink Pads
Written for newer rubber stampers who want to learn about different types of rubber stamping ink. This primer is not designed to cover all brands and kinds of ink available, just the most common inks used for rubber stamping.

Rubber Stamping Ink Types
The most common inks are either be dye or pigment based. Dye ink can be permanent or non-permanent or permanent only after heat activation. Dye inks can contain alcohol to help speed drying or be alcohol-free. Scrapbookers and some rubber stamp artists only use dye inks that are labeled acid-free to indicate they will not damage paper over years. Memories, Ranger Sea Shells, Ranger Adirondack, Ranger Archival, Ranger Distress, Clearsnap Ancient Page (available in petal points) and ColorBox Chalk Ink Pads (available in full size, cat's eyes, options pads or petal points) are the dye ink pads that we currently carry.

Most pigment ink is generally thick and slow drying on paper. It may never dry on non-porous surfaces, like plastic or metal because it often contains glycerin. This property makes it excellent for using with embossing powders. We carry VersaColor pigment ink in standard size ink pads, and small ink cubes as well as the reinkers. Even though the VersaColor colors are richer a little higher quality, we also carry the ColorBox pigment Petal Points, as they are a good shape for rubbing and wiping lightly directly on paper to add random color.

Some pigment inks don't contain a faster drying base than glycerin and can be heat set for permanence even on plastic or vellum. It is generally faster drying and should not be allowed to dry before applying embossing powders, and may or may not be successful for embossing. Ranger Antiquities Ink is one fast drying brand that we carry and it is embossable. It can be heat set for use on plastic, or vellum. Tsukineko Brilliance is another brand and is harder to emboss with. Brilliance inks dry naturally on smooth surfaces like vellum or coated paper.

Some inks are solvent based. StazOn is a solvent based ink pad that requires a special cleanser to remove the excess from your stamp. It is completely opaque and dries on smooth surfaces and has become very popular for stamping on CD's, microscope slides, dominos, glass, metal and acetate. It isn't recommended for fabrics.

Palette Hybrid Ink pads are suitable for all surfaces, including fabrics. They need to be heat set to be completely permanent. They provide good coverage but are not all completely opaque. The ink is easier to clean off than StazOn ink.

Rubber Stamp Pad Types
Dye ink is mostly stored in a cloth covered felt pad. These hold a lot of ink and very rarely need to be reinked, with the exception of some chalky ink types. Recently some manufacturers have started using a new type of ink pad with some types of dye inks. It is a foam pad with a high density "skin" on top of it. It allows more ink to be collected on the stamp. These are quite unique and different to use. The down sides to them is that when they are new or newly reinked it can be easy to get too much ink on them without pressing hard. They also run out of ink faster and need reinking more regularly. ColorBox Chalks are stored in this type of pad, which is why we carry the reinkers.

Pigment ink pads usually come in foam pads. They need to be reinked much more regularly than standard dye ink pads and are much easier to over-ink. These inks need to come in a softer pad in order to get even coverage on the stamp. Antiquities Ink is an embossable chalky ink that comes in a traditional felt pad because the user is trying to get a mottled, aged look. For an even clear image, this wouldn't be a good recommendation. Some rubber stampers buy reinkers and make their own ink pads, with dry foam or felt.

New Chalky Inks
Three ink manufacturers have come out with new chalky ink. It provides softer, muted colors. We've done some side by side comparisons and the results are provided here.

Resist, Watermark & Embossing Inks
Resist ink is designed to resist dye based ink, so if it is stamped onto clear glossy paper and then dye ink is applied over that, the image that was stamped would resist the ink. There are two brands of resist ink. Both are designed to work on glossy or coated paper and will not provide any resist effect on standard card stock at all. Ranger Industries Clear Resist Ink resists stronger and sharper than VersaMark. It seems to watermark very similarly to VersaMark. The only reason we would recommend VersaMark over Clear Resist would be for its ability to hold embossing powders. Clear Resist is quite inferior as an embossing powder because it is not wet enough. This is the same reason it makes a stronger resist.