What is the difference between archival and pigment ink

Many companies make archival inks which are actually dyes. These dyes are designed to change the color of the material they are applied to permanently. In most cases, these dyes will also hold once they are dry. Dyes tend to remain colorfast only so long, however, depending on the materials used to make the dye. For this reason, pigments are growing increasingly popular for archival ink.

Pigment is permanently colorfast, bright, and durable, making it an ideal choice for archival material. Archival dye inks tend to be cheaper, because their base materials are less expensive. These inks are great for line images that you want to color in, and these inks tend to be more colorfast than their regular dye ink counterparts.

These inks tend to be more difficult to clean off of your stamps and may require a special cleaner to fully remove the ink. Pigment inks are a lot thicker than dye inks and generally have a glycerin base. Pigment inks almost always come with a spongy foam pad to enable the ink to be picked up easily by the stamp. These inks are great for stamping on card stock, and a great thing about them is you can stamp lighter colors on darker card stock and the ink color will show.

Pigment inks are generally fade-resistant so are good for scrapbooking. Hybrid Inks are basically a cross between pigment and dye inks and contain properties of both. Most tend to work on all surfaces some surfaces may require heat setting to fully dry the ink , they clean up easier than solvent inks more on those below and are usually permanent when heat set. Hybrid inks tend to dry as quickly as dye inks so are not good for embossing.

Hybrid inks are more transparent than pigment inks, but slightly more opaque than dye ink. Solvent-based inks can be used on almost any surface other than fabrics that are meant to be washed regularly — they tend to not hold up as well with regular laundering , including plastic, glass, metal and more.

Most solvent inks are acid-free and archival. Most solvent inks are transparent but there is a line of StazOn Opaque inks that come in a variety of opaque pastel colors including white. They used to be enormously popular several years ago on the stamping marketplace but in recent years have become harder and harder to find. They usually dry faster than pigment inks and are acid-free and archival so great for scrapbooking.

They are also permanent when heat set so work great with coloring and watercoloring. Even without heat setting, they tend to resist smearing and fading.

With their matte chalky finish, they look great on darker card stock. Perfect for use with water colour markers and it dries quickly. Solvent inkpads such as Stazon , can be used to stamp on plastic, acrylic, metal and glass, it dries almost instantly.

Use this inkpad when you want to colour an image with water colours and water colour markers, do not use Stazon with alcohol ink pens as it will smudge or bleed. Stazon inkpads are recommended for use on parchment paper. Quick tip: Always keep the plastic inner cover on the inkpad as it prevents the inkpad from drying out.

I found this so helpful. I can never remember off the top of my head which ink pad to use for the various projects I do. I found this page when looking for parchment scissors. Thank you. Joan Western. Includes alcohol inks like StazOn. Likely to stain your stamps. This does not harm the stamp at all. If you can stamp on a wet paper towel, then stamp on a dry paper towel without leaving a mark, your stamp is clean enough.

Markers are ideal for coloring directly on your stamps to make a multi-colored impression. Alcohol and Lacquer based markers will dry too quickly to work well.

Water-based or pigment-based markers are ideal for this technique Start with the lightest color first to avoid contaminating light markers with darker colors. Color entire image the "huff" on the stamp image so the moisture in your breath will "re-activate" all the colors at once.

Stamp by pressing firmly, straight down, over the whole image. Colors can be blended with a water brush after stamping. Water can be spritzed on the stamp before the first stamping to create a watercolor, blurred look.

And after the first stamping to create a second impression.