Pigment vs dye ink?

[CorinnaOAR]

Is there a difference? I notice the pigment ink is much thicker or harder to stamp with. It ends up getting in the empty spaces where no ink should be. The dye ink works well.

[annie21211]

I generally prefer to use dye ink or a hybrid like Pallette but pigment ink works great on solid image stamps. Pigment takes longer to dry and I end up smearing it.

Added: yes there is a difference. Pigment inks are good for embossing--which you can't do with dye ink and the color is richer, more opaque which is what makes it great for solid image stamps.

[buggainok]

Pigment ink also works well on clear stamps.

[uncbballfan]

Originally Posted by CorinnaOAR

Is there a difference? I notice the pigment ink is much thicker or harder to stamp with. It ends up getting in the empty spaces where no ink should be. The dye ink works well.

When using pigment ink, you might try turning your stamp image side up, and inking that way, instead of pressing the stamp into the inkpad. Inspect your image before you stamp, and if there's ink around the edges or inside an image, use a cloth or q-tip to remove the excess ink.

If you want to emboss an image, pigment's the way to go. But you can also ink your image with Versamark, then with dye ink: this will allow you to emboss dye ink. Check out Michelle Zindorf's blog for this technique. (http://zindorf.blogs.splitcoaststampers.com/)

A lot of dye inks don't work well on clear stamps, but I've read here that if you lightly sand the clear images, they will accept dye ink better (haven't tried it yet myself.) One of those cheap pink erasers are said to do the trick on solid/rubber stamps if you have areas that are inking unevenly.

[sophiegmarion]

Thanks for the tips Linda!

[polargirl]

When pigment ink first came out it was meant to be heat embossed with embossing powder. It generally won't dry without being heat embossed. Never will dry on glossy paper. Yesterday I did use silver pigment ink on a small solid stamp and dried it with my heat gun and left a few hours to sit. Usually I wouldn't do this since it's tricky but needed a gray color for my card.

[husbandofastamper]

I have only been rubber stamping for about a year now and always thought there was ink. 1 ink and that was it. Oh how wrong I was. My wife Rebecca put together a chart on the different inks and their uses for her customers. She posted it on her website a few years back. Here's a link:

"An Inkling - Your Guide to the Inks" by Rebecca Bernzweig

Hope it helps you as it has me.

[craftbuggy]

I discovered the difference when I tried to substitute pigment for dye on glossy cardstock. Needless to say....it smudged and smeared and made a horrible mess and I had to scrap the whole sheet that I had been working on. I won't make that mistake again, but at this time, my only black pads seem to be pigment. Guess I will have to do some more shopping....

[heyheypaula]

Originally Posted by husbandofastamper

I have only been rubber stamping for about a year now and always thought there was ink. 1 ink and that was it. Oh how wrong I was. My wife Rebecca put together a chart on the different inks and their uses for her customers. She posted it on her website a few years back. Here's a link:

"An Inkling - Your Guide to the Inks" by Rebecca Bernzweig

Hope it helps you as it has me.

Thanks to your wife Rebecca. I've made a copy for reference.

[CorinnaOAR]

Thank you - that is very helpful, particularly the 'advantages' section.

[husbandofastamper]

I'm glad you found the ink chart helpful. Like so many other demonstrators, Rebecca loves when she can help people understand their hobby better, so they can be even more creative. I am so happy that my wife found Stampin' Up!. She gets to rubber stamp and help people have fun. It doesn't get much better than that.

What a long work day - I am tired. Almost didn't check the forums tonight. Glad I did.

Have a great night!

[CorinnaOAR]

And you are a great husband