Ink Pads….oh how I love all the beautiful colors and juicy pads. I love stamping with them, looking at the beautiful array of colors in my stash and collecting more new colors as they become available. I am a little bit of what you may call an Inkie Addict!
I have several new favorites this year, as new products have come out but I still have a few old favorites that remain the same. Ink pads are so personal to each person, everyone wants something different out them. For me personally, I like inks that stamp and dry solid and crisp and clean as well as having a good selection of colors. There are several brands that are very similar (same manufacturing process). I have a list of favorite manufacturers that I prefer and so then I choose my ink pads by color from my list of favorite companies if that makes sense. I hope this list helps you in discovering your own favorite ink pads!
Let’s start with my new favorite black ink pad!
Lawn Fawn Jet Black Ink – this black ink stamps dark black and solid and best of all it’s made to work with alcohol markers (copic, spectrum noir, etc) as well as being waterproof! So it works with watercolors such as Zig Clean Color Real Brush Markers and other watercoloring products. This black ink pad has replaced three of my previous favorite ink pads which were (Gina K for everyday black stamping), (Memento for Copics) and (Ranger Archival for watercolor). Now I just use this one ink for all three purposes!
Colored Dye Ink Pads
As I mentioned previously, many dye inks are so similar that you can only tell them apart by color. That’s when you start choosing by color rather than manufacturer. (Or at least that’s what I do). This is a list of my favorite Dye Ink Pads in no specific order. Please note, some of these inks will stamp splotchy at first but over the course of a few minutes, the inks will even out and turn solid. A lot of times, the colors will lighten as they dry as well. Remember Dye Inks soak into the paper, whereas pigment inks sit on top of your paper.
*NEW to my list this year are MFT Dye Ink Pads. I am really enjoying stamping with these and am growing my collection of colors. They have an enormous selection of colors to choose from and they stamp very very well. They are similar to the other dye ink pad manufacturers listed on this page.
Here is copy of their color chart:
Altenew Ink Pads – These inks stamp solid EVERY time I use them. They are made especially to use with layering stamps, as their ink pads come in sets of four color shades that will combine for beautiful layering. I’ll discuss layering stamps more in the Stamps section of this blog series. Here is a color chart showing all of their color families or “sets”.
Below is a video review I did a few years ago on YouTube, showing how well these inks stamp:
Lawn Fawn Inks are some of my favorites not only because of the quality of stamping but they have the best overall color collection in my opinion.
Here is a video I did a few years ago showing how they stamp.
Gina K Designs Ink Pads – Another of my favorites, they are very similar to Lawn Fawn and WPlus9 ink pads, but they have a lovely color selection as well and their inks match their cardstocks! (my all time favorite cardstock!)
Wplus9 Inks are very similar to Lawn Fawn and Gina K Designs, they just have different color choices. Here is a video review I made showing how they stamp.
Pigment Ink Pads
My favorite pigment ink pads are Memento Luxe. They have been for several years. My only complaint is that they haven’t come out with new colors since releasing their line of inks. I’d love to see more colors introduced to the market! The inks stamp so crisp and clean and SOLID and they are GREAT for heat embossing with clear embossing powder. I personally use them for heat embossing as I don’t have or use many colored embossing powders.
White Ink Pads
White ink pads are tricky. First let me say that you will never get a perfectly bright white solid image stamping with white ink alone. You must use white heat embossing powder if you are going for that look. However, there are many uses for white ink and sometimes that muted look is what you are trying to achieve. I did a blog post and video review of white ink pads here: https://kathleendriggers.com/best-white-ink-pad/ (link will open in a new window) so you can see how all of the white ink pads stack up next to one another. Here is a sample of how they turned out:
And here is the video:
Now that you’ve seen all of that, my personal favorites are Memento Luxe Wedding Dress for sentiments and Hero Arts Unicorn for solid images.
The reason I chose Wedding Dress by Memento Luxe is because the sentiment stamped the whitest and brightest out of all the inks. It did not stamp solid though and was a little “messy” with the solid image that I used, so for that reason it is my favorite white ink for stamping sentiments.
For solid images, I chose Hero Arts Unicorn White Pigment Ink. it stamped the cleanest and most solid. It’s not the brightest but in my opinion, it stamped the best all around of the white inks I demo’d.
Specialty Ink Pads
Delicata Ink Pads – If you are looking for a great gold or silver ink pad, Delicata has you covered. These are the best gold and silver ink pads I’ve ever used. They stamp beautifully!
Versamark – This is the number one ink pad for heat embossing or watermarking. It’s a very sticky ink that takes a very long time to dry which makes it perfect for using with embossing powders. I will go over this in the Heat Embossing section of this blog series but wanted to mention it here in inks as well.
*NEW to my list this year is Tim Holtz Distress Oxide Inks! These are a hybrid ink, meaning part pigment and part dye inks. They blend like nobody’s business and have a velvety finish. When used with water, they leave you with an “oxidized” look that can be absolutely beautiful. They are rather new and I’ve only had them for a few weeks but I am LOVING them so far and can’t wait to play with them more often.
Tim Holtz Distress Inks – I love these inks because they are perfect for blending techniques and distressing. They are water reactive and there is som much you can do with them. These are a must have for any card maker!
The products I mentioned in this post are all listed and linked below for your convenience. If you have any questions about anything on this page, please feel free to leave a comment or contact me and I’ll get back to you asap.
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