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Lately it seems impossible to stamp a clean solid image, no matter the brand or color of ink, and it's much worse if I use clear stamps. I've used the white eraser on the stamps, and washed them with soap and water, and made sure the ink pad is plenty juicy, but still I get splotchy images. Even with my go-to VersaFine Onyx, which used to be fail-safe.
Have you changed your paper, Bahb? I would always say Versafine in this situation but if you've already tried that and you're sure your pad doesn't need reinking then maybe we need to look elsewhere for the problem!
I like Versafine, too, but for solid images I prefer a more chalky ink - A Muse or Versamagic.
I have also started stamping on a piece of fun foam for just a little bit of cushion, and I find some stamps don't give me great coverage until I've stamped them several times. Are they new stamps, Bahb?
Versamagic chalk inks work well on rubber or clear, and you can give the inked stamp a little spritz of water to help it soak into the paper a little better... just don't make it so wet that you lose the crisp edge of your image!
I don't know if you're willing to try this because it might sound risky to the stamps, but here's what I do:
I have a dense foam sanding block that has super-fine grit. It is very flat and doesn't bend when I use it. I carefully sand my rubber and clear images to prime them, then clean them well to remove the dust. (The clear stamps are the trickiest because they are not as secure when mounted, and can be rolled off of the mount by the sanding motion if I'm not careful.)
After my stamps are sanded they grab the inks better. And I always use a very juicy chalk ink pad when I want a really detailed image.
Well, new in the sense that I have yet to get them to make a clean image. I stamped one 22 times, cleaning between times, using the white eraser, changing card stock and ink....after 22 times, I thought I'd best put that stamp away before I gave myself a stroke. That was a red rubber stamp of a simple 5-petal flower silhouette, mounted on wood. But I have several others stamped 10-12 times, and still no clean impression.
I could tell you brands, but they are brands I had always thought very reliable for stamps. Same for inks. I had never had Stazon fail. And VersaFine failing is such bad news. It was the most dependable of all inks. But the case the pad is in doesn't look the same, now that I think of it. In fact, I have VersaFine in 3 different cases and all have had reinker added fairly recently, so they're plenty wet but stamp as if the ink is watery and bead-up on the Photopolymer stamps.
Have you changed your paper, Bahb? I would always say Versafine in this situation but if you've already tried that and you're sure your pad doesn't need reinking then maybe we need to look elsewhere for the problem!
I use 80# Bristol, 80# Neenah, 100# PaperTrey and 120# Gina K. Designs, but didn't try Gina K with these bad stamps because I hate to waste it.
I do have a Darice foam stamping pad, and a couple of VersaMagic inks I haven't tried with these stamps.....I didn't think of chalk inks as a good choice but will try it right now. And if that doesn't work, I am up for sanding and have very fine sandpaper on hand.
Ahhh, thanks so much for all the suggestions. I have hope and will go right now and see if I can beat the jinx. then I'll report here.
In fact, I have VersaFine in 3 different cases and all have had reinker added fairly recently, so they're plenty wet but stamp as if the ink is watery and bead-up on the Photopolymer stamps.
Are we talking three different colours here or three pads all reinked with the same reinker? Getting a defective reinker is unusual but not beyond the bounds of possibility so if they've all been done with the same bottle that might be the root of the problem with the Versafine. It certainly shouldn't look watery.
Are you letting the stamp dry after cleaning it? Sometimes if you ink over a freshly cleaned stamp that still has some moisture on it you'll get a wateriness or beading going on. I usually press a stamp onto scrap paper a few times after cleaning it if I want to use it again straight away.
My other thought has already been mentioned - especially with clear stamps I use a cushion underneath to get the best impression and silhouette stamps are more sensitive to this than line art.
The card I was trying to make when I came here to ask about ink featured a long skid mark polymer stamp. I wanted to use 3 different blue inks. A Stampin' Up, a Distress, and a Stazon. The first worked fine, but the Stazon and Distress blotched. So my first trial was to use, as my stamping surface, the thin foam stamping pad by Darice. That helped some with the Distress, but the Stazon was still blotchy.
I then followed directions I read somewhere (Waltzing Mouse stamps, I think) to wash the stamp with soap and water and let it air dry. I did that and there was no change. I might have tried other inks, if I had some appropriate for the image, but I was bound and determined to make that card with the stamp because I'd been fussing over it all day. So I resorted to another of the suggestions here, to sand the stamp. It seemed crazy, but I was desperate. I sanded several times, bound and determined, and it did work! FINALLY. So I thought how ridiculous life has become that each stamp has to have a certain cardstock, a certain stamping surface, a certain ink, a certain pressure and sometimes drier weather. Does anyone really catalog their stamps in enough detail to cover all the if's, and's and butt's?
I was having fun experimenting, so I got out my big-problem stamps and my VersaColor and VersaMagic inks.(Only 3) WOW! what a difference. Those inks happen to be in colors I seldom use, so I had the pleasure of seeing, for the first time ever, the entire image from a Magenta stamp I bought when I was new enough to stamping to buy any Magenta stamps I could find. Those inks worked on ALL my problem stamps. Though I came here for ink suggestions, the stamps are the bigger problem because I can't afford to have stamps that need special ink or special surfaces or certain cardstock.
And Joanne, the VersaFine reinker COULD be a bad one. I must confess I assumed the fact that it was watery was an intentional way for the manufacturer to sell new pads rather than reinkers. I'll buy another reinker and see how it goes, because I'd as soon give up stamping as not have VersaFine as the fail-safe ink for stamping. Hmmmmmm, for all I know Versa-Color and Versa-Magic work as well as VersaFine. I'll have to check out the colors.
Thanks all for your help. It never ceases to amaze me how kind and helpful the folks on SCS are on these Forums.
I know I'm a bit late responding here - not much free time recently...
I find Brilliance inks quite good for silhouette images - but my go-to extra step is to use a stamp positioner and stamp twice if necessary.
I'm glad you found the sanding helped - I've found that good too.
So glad you got your problem solved. I have a few stamps that I need specific ink to stamp "clean". I have it noted on the set, or block with a sharpie..Saves me aggrevation. I keep a 99 cent foam mousepad around for when I need extra cushioning.
A miracle happened today. I used a small detailed clear Fiskar stamp straight from the packaging and it stamped perfectly the very first time. It might be photo polymer, or something else, but it sure begs the question of why I so often have had to "break-in" new clear stamps, wasting time, paper, ink and my patience.
I've never bought stamps made by Fiskar before, but this set was a miracle in quality AND price. For only $8. 17 stamps in the set. Ebay. "Henna Petals".
I used Staz On ink because I didn't have VersaFine in the right color. Maybe the brand of ink doesn't matter, when you have a really good stamp.
What's your favorite ink for Sihouette Images?
