Help! Somebody who has them all...tell me about ink pads...

[rachipohli]

I'm of the belief that you can never have too many colors of ink pads; as long as the colors are reasonably noticeably different, I'd have hundreds! I've been seeing many newer stamp companies coming out with their own line of ink pads. Stampin' Up has done this for years, of course, but now there are ink pads (and sometimes multiple lines within one company - such as MFT's dye, hybrid, & pigment options) from WPlus9, Lawn Fawn, My Favorite Things, Clear & Simple Stamps, Hero Arts, Simon Says Stamp, to name a few.

I've started to notice that many of these companies' ink pads have the exact same packaging as others. Hero Arts, Simon Says Stamp, WPlus9 and MFT hybrid inks all have the same packaging. My Favorite Things & Colorbox packaging is the same. Palette hybrid inks (which used to be the manufacturer for Papertrey ink pads) also has the same packaging as the pads from Clear & Simple Stamps, and now the brand new Altenew "Crisp" inks.

My question is, if the packaging is exactly the same, does that indicate that the same parent manufacturer created all those inks? And if so, can you expect the stamping results to be about the same across the different companies' lines?

For example, I LOVE the MFT dye inks, they are my absolute FAVES at the moment for how rich and solid they stamp because of that lovely sponge-y pad. So when I see Colorbox dye inks at my local craft store I want to get them as well because I'm assuming I will get the same quality stamped images. Would that assumption be correct? I don't want to buy them and find out they're completely different.

On the other hand, I've bought a few of the MFT hybrid inks and one of the Hero Arts shadow inks (Blackboard) and one of the Simon Says Stamp inks (Lipstick Red). I'm not in love with any of them. I find that they all stamp a bit splotchy, especially the MFT hybrid ones, which stay splotchy even after they've dried and settled. The SSS Lipstick Red and HA Blackboard stain my clear stamps something awful, to the point where I don't want to use either of those at all with my clear stamps and just save them for rubber. But they do tend to stamp initially a little less splotchy and then dry more smooth than the MFT hybrids. (the staining could be attributed to the really dark colors, of course, but I have other dark colors from other companies that don't stain like these). I love the colors of the WPlus9 and SSS inks and would love to try them, but not if they're going to stamp exactly like these others I just mentioned above.

So can anyone tell me what the WPlus9 inks are like, or for that matter, other colors of Simon Says Stamp ink pads, Hero Arts Shadow dye inks or the regular Colorbox ink pads? I'm also interested in the new Altenew Crisp inks, but not if they're going to be like the ones I have from Clear & Simple Stamps, as I'm not highly impressed with those either. Some colors dry to a lovely smooth solid finish while others are more splotchy.

And finally, if it turns out that the ink formulations of all these different companies are, in fact, different, then why do the different companies end up with ink pad packaging that is exactly the same?

If anyone has stuck it out with reading this extremely long post and has some insight to share with me, I'd appreciate it immensely! Thanks!

[rachipohli]

By the way, I'll just quickly add that I also love the ink pads from Stampin' Up since they switched to the new type of pad about two years ago (the old felt style pad is ok but not nearly as good). The new style is also juicy and spongey like the MFT dye ink pads, which makes for a nice evenly inked stamp and a crisp, solid image, even with the most challenging of solid stamps and/or ones with lots of intricate detail. I also love Versafine for the same reason; it's easy to get great solid coverage with their ink formulation. I LOVE Memento Tuxedo Black and so bought several other Memento colors and found that I wasn't as impressed with some of them. I don't get as good of a result as with the Black, but they're just OK.

[shazsilverwolf]

What I would say to this, is that just because the packaging is the same, the ink formulation may not be.The same company may well be producing a number of different inks- take a look at Tsukineko's website- they make Staz-on, Versafine/mark/craft, Encore, Memento, and many more. Think of this like a supermarket visit. How often do you see a 'big name' brand of a product, then maybe the stores' own brand'- and it's pretty obvious they are both made by the same company, as the packaging is too similar not to be. However, the quality will not be the same. I've worked in the food industry in the past, at a place that produced both types of product. The cheaper one had inferior ingredients, and less of them.
The only inkpads I have you mention are Colorbox, some are chalk inks, some pigment, some dye.
It's also fair to say that sometimes you want a different ink formulation for a specific reason.
I use a lot of Stampscapes stamps, and do scenic stamping, adding a lot of colour to the cardstock. This works best if you use a thinner formulation of ink for a 'base'- Adirondacks are perfect for that. However, as you layer up, you want a slightly thicker ink- Memento, Marvy and DI are good for this. The ink does not appear any different to each other in the pad, it's just how they behave on cardstock, and when layered together.
I'm totally with you on collecting inkpads, I did a quick head count the other day, and not including Cats Eye pads, and similar, I made it 310! Probably the majority are dye, then there are pigment inkpads, and a number of 'specialities'- Versamark, Staz-on, etc.
The one thing with colour, is that how it looks in the pad, or on the box, can change a lot when stamped out/sponged and so on. Much will depend on your cardstock- different cardstock will take inks differently, so your ink will take on different shades as it dries out.

[UnderstandBlue]

Ellen did a good post about this here. Most companies go with one of the big ink manufacturers and just get their products private labeled. Same with a lot of dies - most dies are consolidated to a few manufacturers, and same with photopolymer stamps - there are a few main manufacturers. I agree with Shaz that formulation can differ - but the case, pad material, etc. is typically the same for house labeled products.

[maryalena]

I like the WPlus9 dye inks very much. They stamp like the Hero Arts shadow inks which only provide refills in a very few of the colors. WPlus9 seems very similar to HA shadow inks which are my favorites and the WPlus9 has refills for every color. I haven't tried the MFT.

[Rachelrose]

I've gone through all kinds of phases in inkpad collecting. For a while I used almost nothing but Colorbox Chalk Inks. Then I got hooked on Shadow Inks. I was always a Distress Ink gal, though, and that hasn't changed. And I've always loved Versafine for detail, although it comes in far too few colors.

Lately, I fantasize that I'd like to have every color of Ranger Archival, every color of Distress, Versafine in all the neutrals and that's it. Probably because I've been using more paint on my backgrounds, and Archival stamps so well on it.

Inks are something you just have to play around with for yourself. And what you'll like best will depend on what you're mostly using them for. At the moment. ;-).

[maryalena]

Me too on the ink phases. Some of my favorite colors are in brands that just don't ink well. The MISTI is the only saving grace for those. Versafine is always good. I wish they would come out with a few more colors. At last I am collecting only inks that stamp well for me. Now that there are so many inks out there I don't have much patience for brands that really don't perform. My peeve with Hero Arts is the lack of reinkers for the shadow ink so I'm going with the inks that cover as well as theirs but have reinkers. Distress will always be my fav for water techniques and with a MISTI it can be used for general stamping. I'm afraid to try out the Archival. I might like it too much and there are a lot of colors to collect.

[cheermom]

This is a great thread. I'm following to see what others suggest .

[Scrapjanny]

You know, I guess I'm the odd one out when it comes to the inks that are supposed to "fill in and smooth out." Mine don't. I use good quality cardstock, but I don't have time to match each ink to a specific cardstock. I need inks that will perform well with what I have and use already. I have a home-made stamp positioner that helps when I have to stamp in the same place more than once to get these inks to work.

[Rachelrose]

Maryalena - I'm with you on the lack of reinkers for Shadow Inks. It drove me crazy. They have some lovely colors - especially in the pale shades - but reinkers were simply not available. And I have learned my lesson the hard way: when you buy a pad, buy the reinker to go with it. Pads go dry at the most inopportune times.

I do find that often something I've stamped that looks uneven, even after a few minutes dry time, often surprises me the next day, when it's totally dry. But I find that with stamping in general. Something that looks like a complete failure in the afternoon, suddenly has you wondering what you hated about it so much the next morning.

[maryalena]

Yes on the reinkers. I kind of think I'm not going to continue getting the shadow ink colors. You almost have to have a cube in the same color to back it up. They do go down at the most inconvenient times. A few more WPlus9 colors will round out my palette I think.

Funny how that happens. I also have learned not to toss things for a day or so and sometimes an addition or subtraction makes it all OK too.

[shazsilverwolf]

Rachelrose and matyalena, I so agree with you on this. Many times I have had backgrounds I made that just look a bit 'meh'. Then suddenly, with the right image stamped on the right portion, it looks marvellous. So, I keep everything now. Even if it only turns out to be useful to punch stuff out of- flowers/butterflies/dragonflies and so on. Also, you can cut/punch into squares and make a mosaic card- that makes great use of something that hides any faults.





Also, you can treat them as 'masterboards', and add random stamping, then cut up for matts/ panels.

[Rachelrose]

Well, Shaz, you've certainly provided the visual proof to my comment. These are absolutely gorgeous!

[shazsilverwolf]

Thanks, Rachelrose. The black and white one was actually done with offcuts, after I'd trimmed images down, or from parts of images that hadn't stamped as well as I'd liked.

[wavejumper]

Thanks Lydia for that link. I bookmarked it for reference.

Jennifer McGuire also did a big ink thing and commented that several companies use the same formula, so imho, that just becomes a question of color shades. You might want to look at that on her site.

She also mentioned in one of the crafty chat vids that she makes the swatches because the inks are never the color on the lid and who can remember, esp if you have a lot? I always really like those kinds of practical comments.
The only line I fully committed to all of the colors was Distress and that's more about all the things you can do with that line. But I only have the pads-not all the variations like pens, sprays and stains.

You might save yourself some research time and a nice chunk of money if you figure out your fav techniques-like I hardly ever use Stazon, so I only need a couple of basic colors.

[maryalena]

I don't have too many ink regrets, but I do have pads that require the MISTI to get a good image on solid stamps. I have Staz On only in black. It's just not an ink that I need since I mostly stamp on paper. I'm about to start the Jennifer McGuire swatch chart. I like the idea that I can put all my ink swatches into those pockets and then move them around as I get new colors. I like all my dye inks in one place and the same shades next to each other. Although she doesn't list all the newest colors she has an editable blank sheet and the names of inks can be typed in using the same font. Since my printer does not like cardstock all the charts will have to be taken to a Kinkos to be reproduced. It's a very time consuming task but making charts can be enjoyable.
Shazsilverwolf, your cards are lovely. You make much better mistakes than I do.