CTMH Inks - What's the difference and which type should I use for my project?

As paper crafters, inks are an important part of our art.  Did you know that every ink is not created equally? It's true!  Different projects may require different types of ink.  A scrapbooker may wish to ink the edges of their layouts or stamp images as a background and will need a water-based ink.  Whereas a card maker that uses alcohol pens or water colors to color their images will want to use an archival ink that will not bleed.

Close To My Heart knows that all inks are not created for the same purpose and carries all types for all projects.  They have created this guide below to help you decide which is best for the artwork that you are creating. 

Exclusive Inks™ stamp pads: Our Exclusive Inks™ stamp pads, including our Black Exclusive Inks pads, are water-based dye inks. The dye ink absorbs directly into your paper and allows the colors to blend easily with the material. They dry quickly and blend easily. These inks are recommended for most stamping projects, but not for projects where you plan on using watercolors or coloring with alcohol markers after stamping the image.
 
Archival Black Exclusive Inks™ stamp pad: Our Archival Black Exclusive Inks™ stamp pad is our archival ink offering. This pad quickly sets an image that you can then color in using watercolor pencils, watercolors, or water-based inks with the blending pen.
 
Exclusive Inks™ Mini Pigment Pad Sets: Pigment inks behave differently from dye inks, in that they settle on top of your material rather than soaking into it. This allows you to stamp lighter colors on darker materials and to keep the true color of the ink pad when stamping on another color. Though they take longer to dry, when dried, they work well for coloring in with your markers or watercolor inks, as the pigment inks will form a permanent bond and will resist blending when you color over them.

StazOn™ ink pad: StazOn™ is specifically formulated for stamping on non-porous materials. Because StazOn is solvent-based, this ink works well when stamping an image that you will later color over with watercolors, but it is not ideal for use with alcohol markers.
 
Memento™ Tuxedo Black ink pad: The Memento™ ink pad gives you another archival quality ink pad that works for any stamping project and can be used with alcohol markers, watercolors, or any of our other coloring options.

See the variety of colors to choose from on my website at: Create With Care