The number of different kinds of inks that are available has reached the point of total bewilderment for the average clayhead. I've recently begun playing with stamping and making little books and carving stamps and all that neat paper stuff, and thanks to Wilma, I have roughly fifty gallons of different inks strewn all over my tiny little work room. So, I'm gaining some experience and a little familiarity with products in the stamping world and inks is one area in which the line between the worlds will mingle. I'm going to try to compare some different commonly available brands so that you can make choices about which ones might be helpful additions to your little bag of polymer tricks.

First, the Pinata Colors (formerly known as Fiesta Colors) - I am totally in love with these things. I think they're the neatest accessory for our tool boxes since the NuBlade. Cheap, quick drying, permanent when heat-set, you can mix them into TLS or solid clays. Intense colors and perfectly transparent. Available in 17 bottled colors, you can start with an Exciter Pack, or you can just buy a few and mix your own colors from those - you can create an endless number of colors from three primaries, (Baja Blue, Senorita Magenta and Sunshine Yellow) black and white. (White is opaque instead of transparent like all the other colors) There is a special extender and a cleanup solution available - I've got both, but I don't notice much difference between using them and using rubbing alcohol or denatured alcohol, except that the extender also gives you a longer "open" time. I've used these colors to make all kinds of faux materials, mokume gane, tinted TLS, transparent canes, abalone... yes, I've gone off the edge....

Now, on to the inks I'm less familiar with - a couple of these I am already crazy about even though I've barely started using them!

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Pigment Inks:
http://polymerclayexpress.com/inks.html

Color Box Crafter's Ink by ClearSnap - mineral-based pigment ink, opaque, intense color, long "open" time, great for embossing. Can mix with liquid or solid clays. Stamp on clay then heat set - if you want to be able to manipulate a sheet of stamped clay, dab a little Flecto over the inked images and let the Flecto dry. Huge array of colors blend and mix perfectly with each other. Large stamp pads, small option plates, multi-color palettes or reinker bottles.

Metal-eXtra by ClearSnap - mineral based pigment inks, brilliantly metallic. They have to be sealed with embossing powder, mixed with TLS or heated to 300º to get them to dry on polymer clay - the colors don't all dry and react consistently. For paper arts, these are just fabulous, but I haven't worked with them enough on clay to be able to tell how to get consistent results on polymer clay. The colors are so beautiful that it may be worth it to work around the little eccentricities of mixing it with clay - these metallic "silk" and "brocade" colors are so subtle and rich.

Fluid CHALKS by ClearSnap - 28 colors straight out of my pastel boxes - matte, soft, pigment inks, permanent when heat set. Any of the techniques which use decorator chalks would provide a good basis for the use of these colors - they're going to be more intense than the decorator chalks, and with the use of fine brushes, will be more precise. Pads or reinker bottles.

Brilliance Inks - Tsukineko - One of my new favorites - 24 gorgeous pearlized colors! Haven't tried mixing this into the clay, yet, but it dries well when stamped onto the clay (raw or cured) or shrinkart plastic. The pearlization shows up better on clay than it does on matte paper, in fact. Majorly beautiful mokume gane using simply very thin layers of translucent clay to which thin coats of Brilliance have been applied. Large stamp pads or reinker bottles.

Fabrico Multi-Purpose Craft Inks by Tsukineko - Another favorite - 32 semi-translucent pigment colors dry quickly on paper or fabric, a little more slowly on glossy paper, clay, etc. Permanent when heat-set. Available in large and small stamp pads, liquid re-inker bottles and dual-tipped brush markers.

Antiquities by Ranger - Fade resistant pigment Inks - and oh, I love these colors - together they are a sun-drenched cliff on the Mediterranean, stucco and bougainvillea and sea and sand... I used the Topiary, Verdigris and California Stucco colors to simulate verdigris on some faux copper and it was one of the most realistic verdigris effects I've seen yet. Heat to dry the inks on glossy paper or polymer clay. Re-inker bottles and stamp pads.

DECOR-It by Ranger - Large 2oz bottles of inks made for home decor projects - 25 colors including 4 metallics. Quick-drying even on non-porous surfaces like shrinkart plastic - paint with it, stamp with it, stencil with it - very versatile multi-purpose ink - can even be used on projects destined for outdoors.

213 Inks by Ranger - five mixable colors designed for use on non-porous surfaces - acrylic, shrinkart plastic, glass, cement, etc. Permanent solvent based ink.

Posh Impressions by Inkabilities - Metallic Inks in two different palettes of six re-inker bottles. Gorgeous mokume gane effects from subtle to striking and again, the pearlized effect shows up better with the clay than it does on paper.

Splendor Pigment Ink Multi-Palettes by Tsukineko - 12 coordinated colors per palette - permanent craft ink. Embossable, blends with water-based blending mixes.

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Dye Inks:
http://polymerclayexpress.com/inks.html

Fabrico Markers - Dye ink in colors to match the Fabrico Craft Inks. These dry on raw clay - gorgeous with translucent techniques on votive candle holders, for instance.

Ancient Page by ClearSnap - 30 intense colors, permanent dye ink, waterproof impressions on most surfaces, acid free, fade resistant, archival. Mini and full-sized pads and re-inker bottles. Dries on glossy paper and that seems to be some sort of hallmark as to whether it will dry on clay or not.

Vivid Inks by ClearSnap - dye ink, quick drying, blends with water, 38 colors, can be mixed into liquid clay or solid. Some of the colors change in curing, which may or may not be suitable for your work. Beautiful, intense color with paper techniques. Small stamp pads or reinker bottles. Also multi-color palettes - a good way to get a collection of colors you're most likely to use.

StazOn by Tsukineko - six intermixable colors of transparent inks that work on glass, metal and other non-porous surfaces. Permanent. Full-sized stamp pads or re-inker bottles. Heat setting is not recommended as it can ruin the colors.

All-Purpose Inks by Tsukineko - 12-pc sets of bottled inks with Fantastix applicators. Acid-free, works best on cotton, silk, paper and wood. Test on other surfaces. Dries on raw clay or cured. Heat-set for permanence.

Memories Inks by Stewart Superior - My favorite dye ink. Permanent, blend while wet, dries on glossy papers and vellum. Beautiful colors in a huge range - 42 of them! Best black dye ink I know of - prints dense black lines without "fuzzing" - when dry, you can watercolor over it without blurring or bleeding.

Inkredible Ink by Stewart Superior - A dye ink with which you can also emboss your stamped designs! Slow-drying, permanent when heat-set. Very nice "earthy" color range - 16 colors.

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If you only want to buy inks only for use with clay, I'd suggest getting the re-inker bottles instead of the stamp pads as the liquid is more versatile for us. Then if you want to use them with a stamp pad technique, you can make a custom stamp pad by cutting a piece of CutNDry foam or felt and inking it from the bottle.

Many of these inks can be blended on the surface and given a watercolor effect while still wet by mixing up a little bottle of "blender pen refresher" fluid - 1/3 glycerine, 1/3 water, 1/3 alcohol. Dip a brush or cotton swab into this blender medium, squeeze out the excess liquid and lightly wash between two colors that you want to blend, or feather out an area of color to fade it along an edge.

As a final note, I'd like to add that when describing inks, there is a difference between the terms "permanent" and "lightfast." If you've worked in pastels or other media, you may have come to use the terms interchangeably as they apply to your medium.

Inks are more fugitive than similar colors in other media, however pigment inks are generally very stable and quite lightfast, though no standard lightfastness ratings appear to exist for inks as they do for oil colors or pastels.

Dye inks are generally more fugitive than pigment inks, though the degree to which a particular color or brand will fade and over what amount of time varies greatly. Some dye inks are expected to remain bright and unchanged for decades if stored under archival conditions. (low humidity, no UV lighting, etc.)

One of the chemists for Ranger Inks told me that in general, the solvent-based inks are more stable and lightfast than the water-based inks. The newer dye inks may last for many, many years, especially if you are careful to coat the finished project with a product that contains UV protection, such as Flecto.

Personally, I prefer to use the dye inks for paper arts - things that will not be subject to strong UV light and things that will probably be either thrown away or added to someone's keepsake box. With polymer clay projects, I will pretty much stick with pigment inks such as Fabrico, Metal-eXtra, and Crafter's.

I hope this article has been helpful to you - if there are particular products you'd like to hear about, let me know through the email link at the top right of this message.

Happy claying! (and inking! )
Elizabeth
Web Mistress and Discussion Board Host

I just wanted you to know I really enjoyed your post on the inks! Being new to the clay world it is just great to learn that I really can use a lot of what I already have (in abundance!) from my stamping supplies. Earlier this week I posted a question about how to tint Premo. So far no one has responded but your report on the inks has given me the answer! I havn't had time to read all of the other posts in this section but you can bet I will be! I am dying to try the Brillance in a project. I use them a lot on paper projects. They are awesome when used in the "Direct to Paper" method, and now to know I can use them the same way with the clay! I can't wait!

PS: I am really enjoying this site and I hope that someday I will be able to contribuite something too!

Sandy

Have fun!
Elizabeth

Thanks,
Karin