Question about inks

[RHS]

Can someone explain to me when the different inks are to be used? When are pigment, solvent and dye inks used and for what techniques?

[justwritedesigns]

Wow. Is this ever a complicated question, lol. There are so many inks and so many uses. In general:

1.There are several types of DYE inks. If they just say "dye ink" then I would assume they are NOT permanent or waterproof. (Examples of this ink are Vivid, Adirondack, Kaleidacolor, and I believe SU falls here, too.) These inks are great for general stamping on most porous surfaces and a few non porous (paper, cardstock, glossy card stock, vellum). They will not work properly if you plan to use any liquid medium to color the image (water color, markers, etc.) as they will most likely bleed. These inks are good for blending, sponging, brayering and to use FOR water coloring. By this I mean, using a blender pen or water brush to pick up the ink color and apply it to the paper.
The permanent or waterproof dye inks (examples: Ancient Page, Ranger Archival) are good to use when you are using liquid mediums to color as they will not bleed. Use these on paper, card stock, glossy card stock, vellum. One interesting thing to note, if you use these on glossy c/s, they will resist other dye inks that are not permanent. I've also used these inks when coloring w/ permanent markers like Sharpies, Copics, etc and they have not bled. Generally, I use the Ancient Page type for most all dye ink stamping.

2. Pigment Inks: These can be used on card stock, paper, but not on glossy c/s or vellum unless they are embossed w/ an embossing powder. Examples of this ink are Colorbox, SU Craft. These true pigment inks will not dry on non porous surfaces like glossy c/s or vellum. They will dry slowly on regular c/s and are most useful when using embossing powder. There are some hybrid inks like Palette and Brilliance which will dry on vellum and glossy c/s. I've even used Brilliance inks on acetate with no problem.

3. Solvent inks: these can be used on card stock, vellum, glossy c/s, acetate and most non porous surfaces. They do require a special cleaner and the pads must be reinked more frequently. I have heard they are not recommended for clear stamps. You can water color and use other liquid mediums w/ them. You can run into problems using these inks when coloring w/ permanent markers like Sharpies or Copics because they are both solvent based and tend to cancel each other out and bleed somewhat.

I hope this helps. As I said, there a lot of brands and types of inks, but if you look for the keywords like "permanent" or "pigment" or "solvent" you should do fine.

[meluvstampin]

Here is a good site that talks about each kind of inkpad

http://<b>http://www.artwithoutanxie...kinfo.html</b>


~~~~ here is some more info from another site.
I had a chart I found a long time ago for each type of ink for what technique but I cannot find it right now.

Types of Ink

Dye-based ink

Dye-based ink is perfect for all kinds of paper. It’s permanent and dries quickly. Most are not waterproof, which means you can’t color stamped images with paint, pens or other water-based mediums as the ink will run together. (But colored pencils are perfect!) Many dye-based inks are acid-free, but do fade with time and especially sunlight. I avoid using them on mulberry paper, since they tend to bleed on very absorbent paper.

Pigment ink

Pigment ink is thicker and richer than dye-based ink; the colors are bright and vibrant and the ink pads are spongy. They’re fade-resistant.

Pigment ink doesn’t soak into paper like a dye-based ink; instead, it dries on top. That means the ink takes a little longer to dry on regular paper—but the color will be more vivid. It also means that pigment ink will not dry on glossy paper. If you want to stamp pigment ink on glossy paper, you must heat-set it with an embossing gun for it to dry.

Because pigment ink stays wet for so long, it’s perfect for heat-embossing!

StazOn

StazOn is the ultimate permanent ink. It can be used on paper—as well as any non-porous surface, like metal, plastic, glossy paper, dominos, transparencies, leather, glass and ceramic. It only takes about 3-5 minutes to dry on a non-porous surface. This is an acid-free, archival, fast-drying solvent ink. My StazOn ink pads are always by my side and I use them all the time!

Embossing ink

These pads come in clear or tinted ink. They’re used to stamp an image before heat-embossing. I like the tinted version for embossing because you can see where you’ve stamped your image! You can also find embossing pens, which make it easy to emboss details of a stamped image, like lights on a Christmas tree.

Distress inks

Distress Inks are some of my all-time favorites for their soft colors and special “alterable” possibilities. They’re different from other ink pads: They stay wet longer than other dye-based ink pads, so you can blend and shadow with water or other inks. Tap some on a paper, then spritz it with water and watch the colors spread. They also work well on photos!

[markie's mom]

And here's some info about Hybrid inks!

The Palette Hybrid ink pad represents an innovation in stamping ink technology. It eliminates all the confusion over which ink to use for what surface - because it works on everything and is a non-solvent ink. It doesn’t smell bad , it’s nonflammable and it won’t immediately dry out. It dries instantly on paper and porous surfaces and requires a heat-set on glossy surfaces and fabrics.

[meluvstampin]

Here is another good site

http://www.handmade-cards-ideas.com/...s.html#solvent