What type of ink should I use?
Dye ink. This general-purpose ink is great for stamping on all types of paper. It has a very quick drying time, which makes it difficult to heat-emboss. It is normally permanent and waterproof. Dye ink soaks into paper and becomes more muted as it dries. It also can bleed or feather, causing the image to lose clarity.
Pigment ink. This thick ink is slow-drying, so it’s a good choice for heat-embossing. It doesn’t soak into the paper but instead dries on the surface, producing a crisp stamped image. A heat tool speeds up the drying process. Pigment ink won’t dry on coated glossy paper.
One versatile pigment ink is a watermark ink called VersaMark. Clear when stamped, it gives a watermark look to paper surfaces, creating subtle tone-on-tone images that vary in intensity depending on the color. VersaMark also can be used to create a resist image by stamping on glossy paper and running a brayer with dye ink over the top.
Permanent ink. Also know as solvent ink, permanent ink dries by evaporation. The ink is designed for stamping on nonporous surfaces such as shrink plastic, glass, metal, and transparencies.
Chalk ink. This hybrid ink shares traits with both dye and pigment inks. Like a dye ink, it dries quickly, and like a pigment ink, it produces crisp images. The result is a soft, almost muted, chalklike finish, yet the colors are rich.
Click here to download a handy guide to ink types.
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