Ink Pads
 

Hello,

If you have have an entire set of dye ink pads what brand would you pick (this excludes TH, Versamark, or any other specialty inks). You can only pick one brand.

Thanks,
Kate

I would chose Gina K...and Did! LOL I admit I haven't tried ALL of the other brands, but did memento and stampin up, and Gina K was the best in my opinion! Love having the inks match the cardstock I get, and I LOVE her cardstock too...so it's a win win!!

I do not have them, but if I could have them magically, I would choose Gina K because that is the cardstock I use. I have a few of them, some Hero Arts, some memento, etc etc. Luckily, they all do mix and match pretty well.

Ranger Archival. Beautiful colors and will stamp on many surfaces.

But that's if pressed. I really would not want to be limited to one brand. ;)!

I love Lawn Fawn inks but only have 3 colors.

Distress Oxides. Yes, just for stamping too. : ) But since you're looking for a more standard ink, maybe Hero Arts Shadow Inks. Lots of colors including very soft ones, in mini cubes too, and in harmonizing color sets.

But please don't take away my Ranger Archival, Mama Elephant, Studio Calico (my first love!), and others that I'm forgetting in my panic that I can only have one.

I loved the Hero Arts Shadow Inks myself BUT you cannot get reinkers for them. And you will need them for the paler colors, mine got dry very quickly. But great ink.

I got extremely frustrated with the fact that I couldn't get the reinkers. There's a long whining thread I posted about it HERE. I even made some phone calls about it, to no avail.

Yeah, I knew about the re-inkers, but so far {knock on wood} even the light colors are holding up. I'm careful to replace tops right after stamping an image; maybe that helps? If I have to buy another pad, for under $5.00 (for a full size pad) I'll deal, since I got addicted before I knew. I just haven't found certain colors that suit as well, even though some are close.

I've wasted enough money buying other inks when looking for a close match or a slightly better color, that I would have been better off just buying a duplicate. It's weird though.

After all of my calling around and talking to vendors and then to Stewart Superior, I decided that Hero Arts wanted us to have to buy new pads.

Hero Arts is a company that makes many really wonderful products, but their attitude toward customers at the corporate level is not great. They have one of the most restrictive angel policies out there. That tells me something.

Really! I've have to look at it. Have you found super-light, super-soft colors from other companies you like as well? Finding light-ish, mid-toned, dark or jewel-toned colors isn't hard. But their line of soft colors suits me better than any others I've found.

Some of the Archivals are pale, but you are right, only those Shadow Inks come in those lovely pale colors.

Here's the Angel Policy:

All stamp impressions must be made by hand and no mechanical or other form of reproduction is permitted.
Quantities are limited to projects that are limited in scope, local in nature, and otherwise do not constitute an ongoing business.
Additionally, quantities for commercial use are generally allowed if they are in the range of 50 hand-stamped impressions per stamp image, or less.
The production of much larger numbers, and/or for an ongoing business, and/or for an endeavor that is not local in nature, is forbidden without express written consent.
Wherever possible, Hero Arts Trademarks and Copyrights should be displayed.


I actually called them about it at one point (are you getting the idea that I will call everyone and anyone if I am wondering about something, because I will and I do). I was toying with the idea of selling my cards (decided against it), and asked them if the "50 times" limits was for a run of a card (like if you produced event invitations for someone), or for the entire time you owned it and they said it was for the entire time you owned the stamp for your entire life. Period. Not that this would be easy to enforce, but still. I get that HA doesn't want people setting up cottage businesses using their images. Still.

I had gone to the HA site to look at the angel policy and noticed "without express permission," included, so maybe there's some wiggle room? Or not. But it would seem targeted toward a cottage industry so maybe they allow it sometimes. I have a vague recollection I may have seen similar angel policies.

Way OT
I'm an information junky/caller/writer too, so I get where you're coming from. I called them once and the person who answered was basically taking messages - which is fine - she checked before she gave me an answer. And they've been responsive and friendly when I've emailed them a question. But for some companies you can ask a question three times and get three different answers.

In fact I wrote to the Prismacolor company (Newell Rubbermaid!) to ask how their markers should be stored, and was told upright - that they never should be horizontal. I wrote back and asked if that would affect whichever tip was at the top, since they are double-tipped, and got a reply that oops, the first response was incorrect; they should be horizontal. And that has to be a frequently asked very basic question. I could have passed on the original info verbatim, and others could have passed it on...

Thank you all for your replies. it sounds like either GinaK or Hero Arts are the favored ones.

And just to clarify in case anyone is wondering, Hero Arts has more than one type of ink. I'm mainly familiar with the Shadow inks. : )

Beth

Gina K inks are my favorite! I love her colors!

I am not a Stampin' Up rep but I love their ink pads. Juicy forever!

This doesn't seem unusual to me.

BTW, the Hero Arts pads are made by Stewart Superior, who manufacturers ink pads for other companies like Simon Says Stamp, Impression Obsession, MFT, and more. The shape of the ink pad is the same across companies.

Dina, I did some research a while back on angel policies for a number of companies, and many were far less restrictive. Most were primarily concerned that you did not electronically reproduce the image, that it had to be hand stamped, many wanted to be credited on the card but had no limits as to number of times used. I did find that this was one of the more restrictive ones. Things may have changed in the past three or four years, though.

Interesting, thanks Dini.

Also, Hero Arts Shadow and Midtone inks are basically the same. Shadow inks are just lighter. And so pretty!

I'd seen reinkers for a couple of their inks and asked what the status was, and was told they didn't sell so they stopped making them. I wonder if they were less popular at that time.

It doesn't bother me much, other than I switched to minis, and you can't buy single minis, only sets. I wrote to them requesting that they start selling minis separately since they don't sell reinkers, otherwise people are forced to get a large ink pad or mini sets that aren't needed. First world problem. ; )

My ink supply consists of Gina K, Lawn Fawn, and Memento. If I had the money, I would purchase all Lawn Fawn as I love the names. I have a few Hero Arts as well. They all play nicely together.

I love the new Close To My Heart ink pads, the magnetic lids are awesome. I also use Stampin Up ink pads and I also have some Fun Stampers Journey pads however three of them had horrible rotting smell last time I used them, so I'm not buying them anymore.

I like the Hero Arts shadow inks the best. My second choice (I know choices, but they are really good) and have reinkers are the WPlus9 ink pads also made by Stewart Superior. They have some nice pastels. That said they have been out of all the colors and the refills I need/want for many months. I have sent two emails and received no replay on restock. As a result I'm filling in with the rest of the Shadow Inks. I haven't had excellence with some of the Lawn Fawn so I stopped adding those. My Lawn Fawn Mermaid color is awfully good though. I haven't tried the Gina K (yet).