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Hello all,
I'm just wondering if anyone can tell me how the following ink pads compare in terms of performance: Hero Arts Shadow dye inks, Simon Says Stamp dye inks, My Favorite Things hybrid inks and WPlus9 dye inks.
I am specifically looking for dye inks that coat the stamp very evenly (especially very solid images or images with a lot of detail) and stamp smoothly with no streaking or splotching. I love MFT dye inks for this, but I'm looking at colors from other companies as well.
I have a couple of the MFT hybrid inks and one of the SSS dye inks (Lipstick Red) and I'm not super impressed with them based on the above-mentioned criteria. I love some of the colors that WP9 and SSS have and am wondering how well they perform. I would buy just one to try, but shipping costs make that one pad very expensive! Thanks for any info anyone can provide.
You should consider both Gina K inks and Fun Stampers Journey. Both are very good, Gina's are a dye ink and FSJ is a hybrid. I don't have MFT or WPlus9, but I do have some HA dye inks and both I mentioned stamp better in my opinion. The Ha dye inks pool on my stamps and I get a blotchy impression. Good luck with your search!
I second the suggestion to watch Jennifer McGuires ink comparison videos. I just watched one where she specifically talks about WP9, Hero Arts Shadow, and Simon Says Stamp.
All of them are inks she likes by the way.
Your criteria matches my criteria for a good ink. I often use pigment ink to get the results I want but have tried LOTS of dye inks. The new Ranger dye inks stamp really well - solid, not blotchy. The colors are bright, vibrant. Hope they add more colors to the collection. The inks really stain stamps but they are my favorite for solid coverage. The new Lawn Fawn inks look promising. I've tried 2 colors and like the way they stamp - almost as solid as Ranger. They do not stain like Ranger does. Gorgeous colors - I've ordered more! IMO Lawn Fawn inks are better than Hero Arts, SSS and PTI - I've given away or sold those inks. I love Jennifer McGuire and her videos but I do not get the same fabulous result with Hero Arts inks that she does. I use PTI or Neenah cardstock.
Your criteria matches my criteria for a good ink. I often use pigment ink to get the results I want but have tried LOTS of dye inks. The new Ranger dye inks stamp really well - solid, not blotchy. The colors are bright, vibrant. Hope they add more colors to the collection. The inks really stain stamps but they are my favorite for solid coverage. The new Lawn Fawn inks look promising. I've tried 2 colors and like the way they stamp - almost as solid as Ranger. They do not stain like Ranger does. Gorgeous colors - I've ordered more! IMO Lawn Fawn inks are better than Hero Arts, SSS and PTI - I've given away or sold those inks. I love Jennifer McGuire and her videos but I do not get the same fabulous result with Hero Arts inks that she does. I use PTI or Neenah cardstock.
I'm not a huge fan of pigment ink mainly because of how long it takes to dry. I mostly use it to stamp light colors on dark cardstock and for heat embossing, but for most other cases, would prefer to use dye ink if possible. Another criteria that I forgot to mention is that I prefer it if the ink doesn't horribly stain my clear stamps. I understand that there will be some kind of staining, especially with dark colors, and I know that technically it doesn't affect the stamped image, but I really prefer it if I can clean the stamp as much as possible and maintain the see-through qualities of it. Otherwise, it starts to defeat the purpose of a clear stamp. The HA Blackboard mid-tone shadow ink that I have is great for rubber stamps, but it instantly stains clear stamps completely black. So much so that I've decided to only use it with my cling rubber stamps. The only SSS ink pad I have is Lipstick Red, which is also very staining to clear stamps. I'm going to give some lighter HA Shadow and and SSS dye inks a shot, to see if they are less staining. (of course I anticipate that lighter colors would stain less, for sure) My favorite inks at the moment are the dye inks from My Favorite Things (made by Colorbox and have the same qualities). The ink pads are spongy and so give great ink coverage and they stamp beautifully, solid and smooth right from the get-go (no waiting for it to "even out as it dries" and having the color change significantly upon settling). Since they've been expanding their color selection significantly (I think they have around 60 colors now!), I recently bought about 30 ink pads from them and LOVE THEM. However, I love having TONS of colors, hence the looking into other companies' inks as well. Stampin' Up also has that nice spongy pad and the ink covers well also, but their colors don't change much but once a year when they add the In Colors. I really do think that that spongy pad is the key, and so far only MFT, CB and SU have it. Also, these inks don't stain the way the ones do from HA, SSS, etc. Even the dark inks can be cleaned off quite well.
I still want to try some of the WPlus9 inks because they have such beautiful unique colors! As long as they dry smoothly, I don't mind if the initial result is splotchy, I just hope they're not that same super staining formula. I have a couple of lighter colors on order from SSS and HA, so will post those results once I get them.
I love Jennifer McGuire also but I'm wondering how she manages to get great results with ink pads that others (such as yourself) don't seem to be able to duplicate...makes you wonder how she does it??
Can you tell me what the name of that blog post is? I've seen several of her videos relating to inks but can't find that one specifically that you mentioned, where she talks about the comparison between WPlus9, HA and SSS inks.
I second the suggestion to watch Jennifer McGuires ink comparison videos. I just watched one where she specifically talks about WP9, Hero Arts Shadow, and Simon Says Stamp.
All of them are inks she likes by the way.
Can you tell me what the name of that blog post is? I've seen several of her videos relating to inks but can't find that one specifically that you mentioned, where she talks about the comparison between WPlus9, HA and SSS inks.
I don't know how to share the link to a specific YouTube video. Go to YouTube and search for Jennifer McGuire My Favorite Crafty Things 2014-Inks.
That is the video that she talks about those brand of inks. She starts out talking about black inks, then white, mentions clear, then starts on colors. She talks briefly about the difference between dye and pigment but then gets to talking about HA, SSS, and WPlus9.
I would try using the search feature here. There are tons of awesome threads about this subject already and most are filled with links to great videos and blogs about all the different ink pads too. A real treasure trove!!
Apologies if this has already been discussed somewhere. Hero Arts hybrid inks have reinkers which makes them appealing to me. I very much like the HA shadow inks but most do not have reinkers. Is anyone using these hybrid inks and how do you like them?
Rachipohli, I don't know what kind of cardstock J. McGuire uses in her videos, but that will Definitely make a difference in your results.
I, too, LOVE MFT inks, and have found that I like Avery Elle, too, but not a Lot of colors available yet.
If you go to JM's blog, you can just pop the topic into the search...I did ink and it is set now to look at them. She has done a bunch so you might want to look at older posts too. The favorites each year, she did a comparison between pigment and dye where she shows inks she likes, etc.
I checked through all her posts. She seems to do so well with all her inks. She demoed the tangerine hybrid today in her layering post. I bought a set of four hybrid HA cubes today to try. At least they have reinkers which is a real plus for me. I was hoping someone here was using them on a regular basis.
Ink Pad comparison
