If you have stumbled on to this post it is probably 2am you are in the middle of a huge stamping project and your ink-pad has run dry! No worries, you can make thick luscious pigment ink with just a few supplies you may have on hand already (even if you don’t you can get all of the necessary supplies for less than the cost of 2 new ink-pads!)
You will need: A Plastic Spoon, Artist’s Gouache (pronounced “gwash”, it is a thick opaque watercolor available at art shops or large chain craft shops like AC Moore. I use the set of 18 colors by Reeves. Cost:$10), Vegetable Glycerin (available at a health food store) * If you just want to make clear embossing ink use only the glycerin, it is exactly what clear ink is made of, some companies add fragrance but glycerin is what makes the embossing power stick, it makes a great watermark ink too. If it seems to thick you can add a drop of rubbing alcohol to it.
Directions: Grab the ink pad you need to re ink. Squirt the gouache on the pad (if you need to mix colors to get the right shade you can do that on a piece of waxed paper of leftover plastic packaging.) Add a couple of drops of glycerin to the ink pad and work the paint and glycerin in to the pad with the back of the spoon. Grab a stamp and test it, if the image looks to transparent add more paint. You made need a touch of white to make it more opaque. If the ink is to thick or dry feeling add more glycerin. If you are truly in a bind and need ink now and do not have gouache raid your child’s art box for tempera or poster paint which is the same as gouache except it has more water in it so it may be more transparent but after you ink up your pad you can try evaporating out some of the water with a hairdryer.
Invest in the gouche and the glyceryn if you don’t already have it and I promise you will never buy a bottle ofpigment refill ink again!
BTW I came up with this when I was in the middle of a huge stamping project and my ink-pad ran dry!
The Frugal Crafter Blog 
Very cool Lindsay! You have the best ideas and techniques!! Keep up the great work!! Hugs, Melissa
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Will I be able to use this idea for heat and stick projects too, eg heat and stick and glitter added? I have ink up embossing and I used it with heat and stick and it worked well. I used it a few days later for another project ( the pad has hardly been used) and the heat and stick just slid off, I mean nothing stuck.
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yes, it will work fine:)
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Another great idea! Thanks!!!!
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Great idea Lindsay! Thanks for sharing!
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You are a genius! Thanks for another great money-saving post. 🙂
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I love your blog! I am currently putting together a little zine, and would love to include this in my zine!
email me, please?
saint.wonderwoman (at) gmail .com
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LOL. I loved your intro. It’s currently around 2:30 AM here and I really am in need of making pigmented ink. Thank you so much 🙂
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I JUST found this site and I can already tell there’ll be tons of helpful hints I can use in crafting projects =)
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I tried this procedeure and as soon as I put the paint on the plate and added the glycerine it seperated as if to some reaction to the Glycerine!. I bought the glycerine at my local pharmacy, It works for all the other things you suggested but after I spent the money for the paint and tried this my paint seperated. ?????????
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were you using gouache? You only need a couple drops of glycerine, maybe less if your glycerin is thick. I have never had this problem. Try adding a tiny bit of water to mix and make sure the paint you are using is water based.
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Yes it was for the guache paint. I took your advice and bought the gouache and then the glycerine. It just seperated something awful! I then tried it with another color and it seemed to do the same thing. About this time I was very upset that I spent the money on these paints then saod one more time. I tried another color and no problem. I am dumbfounded. I don’t know why it did that to the first ink pads. I couldn’t even mix it up enough to spread it on the pads. I was wondering also if this process still keeps the pads from drying out like paint?
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it might just need a bit of water and stirring, the paint might be old but that should not matter. The glycerin keeps it from drying out but if you live in a dry location you might need a couple drops of water too.
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Yes, It might be older paint, Although I just bought it off Amazon for this project. The colors seem o.k it is just when I mixed the white to them to get a different shade and then added the glycerin it just seperated. It was so odd. I bought another bottle of glycerine from a health food store this time. A vegetable one. Will have to try it.Thanks for the reply.
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Glycerine worked as clear embossing ink for my rubber stamps but it didn’t work for my clear stamps. It didn’t ink well so not much embossing powder stuck onto it. Some people mentioned Vaseline but it’s so hard to wash off. I afraid after say a year any remaining Vaseline stuck on the stamp may start dissolving the stamp making it sticky. Do you know of a clear embossing ink recipe that would work on clear stamps yet not too difficult to clean up? Thanks!
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Your instructions call for vegetable glycerine – would vegetable glycerine react differently than glycerine made from animal fat? There were a couple of folks who commented about the glycerine not working. I know the comments were several years ago – but I’m positive your video is still being viewed.
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I have never heard of animal glycerin so Ihave no idea
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Lindsay-can’t sleep so I went to your blog. Thought I’d go to the very start. I’ve watched all videos more than once. Been watching for 3yrs now. Any hooo – I’m so tickled to see you’re answering comments to posts from 8 yrs ago! Thank you! Now I know if I need to comment on something I’m reading you still will post back! I know you are busy so this is special! Hope you all had a great vacation!
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I try my best:)
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Hello,
I stumbled on this when i wanted to make my own clear embossing pens. Thank you so much!!!! The ones online are so damn expensive (i wonder why the hell though) and i thought if i wanted to buy any more powder, I’d better find a more economical way to do things. I will try your trick and linger on your site longer. You made my day!
Thanks,
Karen
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Hi! Do you think you could do this with inktense instead of gouache?
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hmm, it will not be thick like the gouache and opaque which is what you want in a pigment ink. It would probably give you color though:)
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Thank you!
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YOU ARE AWESOME!!! I just dug out my dried out ink pads. I figured eventually I would be able to find an inexpensive way to re-ink them. I didn’t have gouache paint, but had watercolor tube paint. I mixed some with a dab of glycerin and have a beautiful color! Next I experimented with just glycerin and water. I found the following worked great on my inkpads without having to mix colors. I put 1 tsp. water and 1/4 tsp. glycerin in a shot glass to mix. Then I put a few drops onto the inkpads and massaged it in with the back of a plastic spoon. (The glycerin reacted with stainless steel cutlery and didn’t want to use my silver.) I feel like I was given a whole bunch of ink pads! Thanks so much for sharing your wisdom with us!
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How would you do a mixture for a new ink pad? I don’t have any pads as of yet but I do have ingredients to make a homemade ink. any idea’s Lindsay? I am short on funds to buy ink pads atm but I love all your video’s and helpful info but I am not finding anything about mixing for a sponge pad and a new one at that. Please help
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you want the consistancy of thick cream for a new pad.
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Hi Lindsay, I am not sure how much to mix at one time to fill a new sponge to use as a ink pad any idea on what the mixture amount should be and what should I use to make the ink with I have gouache paint, food coloring (pure),clothes dye, alcohol glycerin. Thank you so much for your first reply back. sorry for the questions I am new to all of this and have no clue what I am trying to do when it comes to making ink.
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personally I keep adding ink until the pad won’t take any more. I like Gouache, glycerin and a few drops of water to make my ink, you can vary ythe amounts to best suit the pad you have. You need to try and experiment:)
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thanks so much for you information I will give it ago have a great weekend looking forward to more videos
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Absolutely EXCELLENT! I had a bunch of ink pads I didn’t want to throw out but they were getting quite dry. I used them in their dried out state to color the edges of my cards instead of chalk. I used your recipe to revive the ink pads, and they are working like new! I’ve been looking for about a year for a solution for dry ink pads! Thanks many, many times over for sharing this! I’m so excited to be able to use them for stamping again! You made my day in a big way!
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Hi, Lindsay! Do you have any advice on how to thin pigment ink that has thickened (not dried completely) in their original re-inker bottles? The ink is about 15 years old. I know it is still usable; I just want to get it out of the bottle to re-ink old pads…
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add a bit of rubbing alcohol and glycerin and shake it up if needed.
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It’s 2am and all kids are grown up, hence no tempera paint, etc. Looked up what glycerin is made of —soybean or coconut oil— viola! I’ve got those. Going to try 1 tsp water and 1/4 tsp. coconut oil into an emulsion. Sorry! Can’t report the results since I’m mid-experiment but it should work.
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Decided to use my coconut milk creamer instead. Worked fine
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Sorry this is long. I have questions.
The craft store near me (Michaels) does not carry re-inkers, and new pads cost $16 (Canadian — price has done a massive increase over the last few years.) so I am glad you have a post on this. I have some older ink pads that I will try re-hydrating with water and glycerine as suggested by another poster, but I am planning on purchasing some small blank ink pads (smaller because bigger ones get too much excess ink all over the stamping platform and fingers) and will be inking up these pads with the water-based gouache and glycerine from new. I also looked for the information in other comments before I got here…so
…my question is, is there an actual measured ratio of paint to glycerine…like 2 teaspoons to 2 drops as an initial guideline, since “thick cream” already describes the gouache in these tubes which is still liquid? [They was bought from a reputable local art supply store (Opus).] What should the consistency of the gouache (and amount) look like to start with before one goes adding “a few drops” of glycerine?
And a different question: I have had to ditch one of the ink pads that I was using that was still “good” (viable ink) because the foam started to compact and then disintegrate and attach itself to the stamp and also my cards. What would have caused that? This post of yours was the reason I used some of the gouache and glycerine with another drier pad the same colour to finish the project which was being embossed, but had to re-ink and stamp more than once to obtain a good image to put the embossing powder on which is also why I am asking about ratios of gouache to glycerine.
As an aside, I’ve solved the problem of ink on finger tips/nails by using a length of scotch tape partly doubled/stuck to itself and the free ends stuck to the bottom of the stamp-pad as a handle so I don’t need to hold the pad on the sides and get fingers and nails coloured up as well.
Note for the lady who bought her stuff from Amazon: Often the warehouses are not climate controlled (Employees pass out in hot weather.) so the paints might not have been old, but may have suffered some thermal abuse.
Note for the lady who was asking about Inktense paints: They can be used to do silk-painting and the colour fixed with heat, so I am guessing that crushing these expensive babies and mixing them with alcohol(????) for dye stamp pads would more appropriate.
Thank you
R
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Since gouache varies in consistency you kinda have to wing it. If you find your ink will not emboss or blend and it tries out too quickly add more glycerin. It take a bit of trial and error but once you get the feel for what works it is easy.
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