Card Making For Beginners – Part 6 – Types of Ink

Ink is an essential tool to your card making, but there are so many and it can be confusing. Perhaps you’re asking:

• Which one do I choose?
• Why should I have more than one type of ink?
• What is the purpose of the different types of ink?

After all, ink is ink, right? Yes and No. Different inks serve different purposes. Let’s explore 5 different types of ink. Two of the ink types are water based (Classic ink pads and Memento ink) which means the stamped image will smear or run when it comes in contact with water. StazOn ink is alcohol based and waterproof so it will not smear with water, but it will bleed with alcohol based markers such as Stampin’ Blends. VersaMark is a pigment and watermark ink; it can be used to create a watermark on cardstock and used for embossing. Craft Ink is a pigment based ink which means the ink is thicker and the ink stays on top of your cardstock when you stamp, therefore it stays wet longer which allows you to also emboss.

• Classic Ink Pad – water based dye ink
• raised foam pad; flip top for upside down storage (pad stays inked longer)
• acid free – good for scrapbooking
• dries quickly
• general use on any cardstock color
• 50 colors available
• use with blender pens, watercolor pencils, Stampin’ Write Markers
• cleans easily with water, non alcohol baby wipes, shammy, stampin’ scrub using stampin’ mist

Classic Ink used for this image

• Classic Stampin’ Spots
• 1″ x 1″ raised felt ink pads – smaller version of Classic Ink Pads
• easy to apply ink to stamp when using Stamparatus
• easy to use when applying various ink colors to one stamp
• Comes in 10 colors as well as uninked spots to use with Classic ink refills
• Cleans easily – same as Classic Ink Pads

• Tuxedo Black Memento Ink – waterbased
• cloth covered raised foam pad
• used for general stamping – any cardstock color
• dries quickly; acid free – good for scrapbooking
• use with Stampin’ Blends (alcohol markers), blender pens, colored pencils, Stampin’ Write Markers
• cleans easily with water, non alcohol baby wipes, shammy, stampin’ scrub & mist

Memento Ink used here and colored with Stampin’ Blends

• StazOn Jet Black ink – alcohol based
• cloth covered raised foam pad
• permanent, waterproof, archival, acid free
• black and saddle brown ink colors available through Stampin’ Up!
• use on cardstock and non porous surfaces such as ceramic, metal, plastic
• use on window sheets, vellum, cellophane bags
• dries quick on cardstock but dries slowly on non porous; heat set if desired
• great for watercoloring; use with Water Painters, Stampin’ Write markers, watercolor pencils, blender pens
• will stain your stamps; clean with StazOn cleaner or baby wipe
• not the best ink for photopolymers, but if used, clean with StazOn cleaner and then immediately clean with mild soap & water to remove any cleaner residue OR just clean immediately with water or non alcohol baby wipes; best not to use on your Stampin’ Scrub or shammy because of staining
• has an almond sort of smell; do not throw away the plastic lid under the exterior lid

StazOn used here on window sheets

• VersaMark – pigment & watermark ink
• sticky raised foam pad
• dries slowly
• use on all cardstock
• creates tone on tone on colored cardstock – appears a few shades darker than cardstock color
• creates a watermark on light colored, text weight paper
• perfect for embossing (creating a shiny, raised look) with embossing powders; emboss resist technique

VersaMark used here for embossing the sentiment with White Embossing Powder.

The flowers were stamped with VersaMark for a watermark look.

• Craft Ink Pad – pigment ink
• raised foam pad
• acid free – good for scrapbooking
• thick ink; needs to be inked regularly because it uses more ink than classic ink pads
• comes uninked with ink refill
• ink stays on top of cardstock – dries slowly; heat set if desired
• use for embossing with embossing powder
• use with colored pencils, stampin write markers
• can be used on wood, fabric
• use for chalkboard technique
• clean with water or baby wipe; can leave ink on tight areas if not cleaned thoroughly

White craft ink used here and colored with watercolor pencils

When ink pads are used on a regular basis, they become a little dry but you don’t have to get a new ink pad. All you need is ink refills to reink your ink pad. You can tell when it’s time to reink if you are not getting a crisp, clear image. There are ink refills available for all the ink pads mentioned in this post so consider purchasing an ink refill for each of your ink pads. To reink – put a few drops on top of ink pad and spread with back of plastic spoon. Try not to over ink.

Wow – this was another long post! There may be some stamping terms that I’ve used that you may not understand, but no worries. In future posts, I’ll be digging deeper into terms like embossing, tone on tone, Stamparatus, reinker uses and more uses for the VersaMark ink. For now, I wanted you to get familiar with the various inks and its general use. I hope you learned something new today. If you have any questions or comments, please leave them below.

Thanks for stopping by . . . till next time . . . do something creative . . . Brunie

If you would like to place an order for any of these products or other supplies, please visit my online store. Thank you for choosing me as your demonstrator.