I live in a smallish town that has very limited stores with very limited supplies. I get just about everything I need for l Letterboxing and LTCs in towns a couple of hours from me. I have bought various brands of ink and noticed some small differences in them but most colors work well with my projects (I had a yellow that just didn't work but found a second brand that did). However the one color that I can't find a good brand for is black of all colors. I have tried several kinds and they work OK on white but on color paper they all look thin. I can't seem to find a rich black to stamp on color paper. Again, remember I have limited access to ink and when I go to other towns I go to the major stores and don't know where there might be a good ink craft stores. Any suggestions on what brand of black ink works well with stamping on color paper? I'm ready to order on-line but want to know what to buy to make it worth the shipping. Thanks.

You need to get acquainted with stampeaz.com.

Again, remember I have limited access to ink and when I go to other towns I go to the major stores and don't know where there might be a good ink craft stores.

You don't need to travel at all. We are fortunate that a letterboxer, Webfoot, has an online store called Stampeaz so you don't need to leave your home. To connect to the store, click on the Marketplace dropdown from the top of this page and choose Stampeaz. This is my favorite black ink. You might consider the cost to travel searching for the right product vs the cost of shipping and find it is actually cheaper to order online.

My go-to black is Versafine. Have you tried that yet?

I agree with versafine black onyx for trail stamping.

I prefer Versafine as well. Staz On inks all dry out too fast for me, though now they have these medium sized pads that are more airtight, so I bought one to try out. I think that will work for me. But what I love about Versafine is: waterproof, can be embossed, shows very fine detail, has re-inkers you can buy.

Cons: oil-based, so cannot stamp on slick surfaces as it will never dry. (Such as postcards or glossy paper or vellum). Staz On is best for slick surfaces.

One thing to consider is what kind of colored paper you are using. If it is nice smooth cardstock or scrapbook paper, that will be OK. If it is sort of rough,dry construction paper, it won't stamp well.

If it is a darker color of colored paper, then no black stamping ink will be dark enough. But you will get super dark coverage if you use the liquid printmaking inks, which you have to roll out with a brayer onto a slick surface, and then brayer to the stamp, then place the paper on top and burnish it.

What a great and thorough answer, FloridaFour! My teachers were always telling me I was too concise, not enough detail. Thus, proven!

Thanks. I just think it helps people know that different inks have different purposes. :-)

Another good black is Ranger Archival ink. :-). It has a faster dry time than Versafine because it is not oil based, and is waterproof. However, I find it has more "feathering" on paper, than I would like, hence not as sharp detail. You likely won't notice it unless you are used to Versafine or Staz On. I have it, but I found I don't use it.

Oh, also Staz On and Versafine don't leave gloppy residue on stamps, are easily wiped with water, though the stamp will be stained. Unlike Color Box, Studio G or chalk inks, which are SOOooo sticky and gloppy.

I only buy ink online. It's worth paying shipping and handling when stores often don't have a really large selection of colors or don't have the color you happen to want. It's easier to sit in my living room and find anything I want.

I have used only Versafine for years and in my opinion it is the best, for black and any other color.

And....from the Stampeaz site....

"Looking for an ink to give you extremely fine detail? An ink that you are able to watercolor or marker over and it won't bleed? Then look no further! This natural oil-based pigment ink dries instantly on matte card stock. You won't believe it till you see it. No inkers needed. Inkpad lasts 3-5 times longer than regular inks."

one more vote for Versafine Onyx Black.... nothing else I've tried has compared.

I love memento's black ink. It comes in a tiny tear drop shape. The pointed tip is perfect for coloring only part of a stamp of you're making a colored design and they are small enough that you can carry many with you without them being cumbersome. That brand makes many version a of tiny teardrop inkpads but memento dries the fastest.

A tiny bit of water will rejuvenate like nobody's business.

Ranger Archival can feather on untreated paper, but it's nice on paper that has been varnished. If I've used chalks or pastels to colour my paper, and then had to varnish the paper to set the colour, Ranger Archival is my go-to printing ink. Stazon is good for varnished paper too.

Color Box inks give you nice, dense colour, but yeah... they take forever to dry - I'm talking days or even weeks. I only use them if I'm embossing, or if I'm going to varnish the paper afterwards. They are very nice for embossing because they stay wet so long. I like the extra working time. Although they do get gloppy on the stamp. I will wash my stamp off periodically if I'm stamping a lot of images with Color Box.

Thank you all for your input. It's so nice to be able to ask a question and get so many thoughtful answers.

I've always used StazOn black ink, but lately have not been happy with it, especially for embossing. So based on the positive comments about Versafine in this thread, I bought a Versafine Black Onyx pad for a project where I need to stamp in black and then emboss. I am so disappointed with this ink pad... my image has large areas of solid rubber and the ink does not cover well at all... all kinds of blank spaces. Am I doing something wrong? Is it the ink? the rubber? the paper?

The stamp is carved from OZ, which sucks, but not a whole lot of choice as my PZ Kut is finally gone. My paper is relatively smooth watercolor paper because the background is watercolor. I tried stamping onto plain paper to see if my paper was the problem and it is a little better, but still does not cover completely.

The ink pad does not seem very juicy for being brand new. When I just stamp the entire pad onto a piece of plain white paper, it is not solid black, rather there is a lot of half-covered space.

Can I use a reinker on a Versafine pad?

Still in search of a really good black ink pad.

The ink pad does not seem very juicy for being brand new. When I just stamp the entire pad onto a piece of plain white paper, it is not solid black, rather there is a lot of half-covered space.

This sounds like a problem with the ink pad itself. A new (and most older) ink pad should give solid coverage when stamped directly on paper. I've seen new pads that are dry, so it certainly can happen. You should get more feedback here before returning it though.

[...] my image has large areas of solid rubber and the ink does not cover well at all... all kinds of blank spaces. Am I doing something wrong? [...] The stamp is carved from OZ

Your ink pad seems to be the major problem in this case, but large solid areas are also a problem on the harder materials, like OZ. When I have a stamp with large solid areas I will carve on pink or EcoKarve. Though through further experimentation with EcoKarve I've found that the edges of the carve aren't as sharp as I'd always like, but taking care can help quite a lot.

However, there have been some recent reports of pink not being good, but overall it appears to have come back to near its former self.

I've had trouble getting OZ carved stamps to do well holding ink over broad areas--it's great for letters and outlines but it's always blotchy on big areas no matter which ink I use. Have you got a pink-carved stamp you can use to experiment with the Versafine pad?

I've had trouble getting OZ carved stamps to do well holding ink over broad areas-

I use pink for images that need a lot of ink for
Just that reason. Is great for
Finer details but not a lot of ink.

As someone pointed out a while back, when stamping with a stamp that has broad black areas, it's important to apply the stamp to the paper for a long time, like 30 seconds or more. Especially with the harder rubbers, air can get trapped between stamp and paper and take a while to ooze out the edges or through the paper itself before the ink can be fully applied. Try it, see if it helps.

Thanks for the input all... I did a recarve on softer material, per Baqash's suggestion and tried applying the stamp longer as Kirbert suggested... I also experimented with a couple different kinds of embossing powder... I thought one might "spread" a little better than another as it melts and fill in the empty spaces better -- I found that the thicker embossing powders do not fill in as well, but the lighter ones seem to spread a little. I do think my ink pad is a little dry, even though new, so inked it a few times over before each stamp. Also I got much better results when I was standing up and applying pressure while stamping rather than sitting down -- maybe the direct down angle of pressure?

There are still some empty spots on the final print... not quite what the perfectionist in me had envisioned, but much better than my first prototype.

Live and learn...

Thanks!

When i
Did embossing i used more pigment inks with a juicier
Pad rather than a solvent. You might experiment with them and see if you like the results better.

Is there a specific brand of ink you found worked best? As I mentioned I had been using StazOn and switched to Versafine becaue I thought that as a pigment it would be better, but I am not in love with the Versafine, so am all ears if there is another pigment that anyone has found to be juicier and/or cover better, especially with embossing. Thanks!

My inkpad of choice for embossing is VersaMARK. It is a clear sticky ink that stays wet for a while and will really hold your embossing powder. You can usually pick this pad up at Hobby Lobby or Michaels using a coupon. If you want to use a black pad, use a pigment based pad like Colorbox

It sounds as though you picked up a faulty VersaFINE ink pad. I suggest you try to exchange it at the store where you bought it. If that doesn't work, contact Tsukineko and let them know.

Some reinker would definitely help, but it has to be Versafine reinker--which you probably have to order on line. The thing is, You can't mix brands. The other thing is that a Versafine pad shouldn't need reinking so soon. I'm convinced it's a faulty pad.

Please let me know what happens.

Letterboxing version of haiku?
: )