I was asked this several times, and I thought I'd do a post about it for everyone to benefit :)
Hey can you also tell me which inks work best with these clear stamps? and is it necessary to mount them on a block?
You can do a lot of things with them without the block, the block gives you a backing to apply the pressure and make the imprint. :) Otherwise let's say you stamped with your palm or fingers, you'd either miss some areas, or your stamp would move and it would blur. It's great to try for backgrounds and textures, but I'd opt to have an acyrlic block for let's say fine text and sentiments.
As far as the inks go, pigment inks are great and there are MANY brands and makes out there! If you want to use them for everyday stamping with color, pigments are awesome. You need to know what you're wanting to do so you can use the ink accordingly! Pigment inks stay wet longer so they're fab if you want to use clear embossing powder to heat emboss with. Pigment inks, because of their water based composition, they will dwell into the fibers or granules of paper and may bleed or blot.
If you plan to layer with other media, ie want to use paints, color pencils, markers and such for mixed media, you want to go for oil based archival inks, they dry super fast. And as the name suggests, they're good for documenting and are long lasting.
A note, pigment inks will bleed if used with other water based inks. They're great for lighter background surfaces and are not suggested for slick/smooth surfaces such as glass, acrylic, plastic, foil and so forth.
Archival inks, because they dry super fast are great with the above! AND they won't wash out. :)
Hope this helps!
Hey can you also tell me which inks work best with these clear stamps? and is it necessary to mount them on a block?
You can do a lot of things with them without the block, the block gives you a backing to apply the pressure and make the imprint. :) Otherwise let's say you stamped with your palm or fingers, you'd either miss some areas, or your stamp would move and it would blur. It's great to try for backgrounds and textures, but I'd opt to have an acyrlic block for let's say fine text and sentiments.
As far as the inks go, pigment inks are great and there are MANY brands and makes out there! If you want to use them for everyday stamping with color, pigments are awesome. You need to know what you're wanting to do so you can use the ink accordingly! Pigment inks stay wet longer so they're fab if you want to use clear embossing powder to heat emboss with. Pigment inks, because of their water based composition, they will dwell into the fibers or granules of paper and may bleed or blot.
If you plan to layer with other media, ie want to use paints, color pencils, markers and such for mixed media, you want to go for oil based archival inks, they dry super fast. And as the name suggests, they're good for documenting and are long lasting.
A note, pigment inks will bleed if used with other water based inks. They're great for lighter background surfaces and are not suggested for slick/smooth surfaces such as glass, acrylic, plastic, foil and so forth.
Archival inks, because they dry super fast are great with the above! AND they won't wash out. :)
Hope this helps!
