I bought six little Recollections ink pads at Michaels because they were on sale for $.50 each. They say they’re pigment pads so naturally I then had to do a comparison with dye based pads and then I realized I’ve never really done a comprehensive comparison of all my different ink pad brands. Yes, I’m that kind of nerd. It’s like swatching, but with more rules.
Behold the results (for anyone that is curious about the wide world of ink pads).
I have 7 distinct ink pad brands in my stash which fall into 3 broad categories: color wheel stamp pads, sentiment stamp pads (black, bleed proof, and permanent), and regular stamp pads (which include both pigment and dye-based).
For each I made a comparison card using the same white card stock and stamps. I tested: a solid block stamp, a small solid stamp, a detailed stamp, and a word stamp. In addition I did an inkpad swipe for each and a smoosh (dabbing the inkpad on an acrylic block, spritzing it with two sprays of water, and then smooshing it onto the page). When the cards were dry I used an alcohol marker on one butterfly wing and swiped the other wing with a wet paintbrush.
I’ll use the reference cards when deciding which ink pad to use for various projects. It helps knowing which are good for details vs blocks of color vs smooshing or swiping.
