Stamp pad ink

Alan P. van Dyke <alan [at] mail__utexas__edu> writes

>We are toying with the idea of using rubber stamps on collection
>material folders during our archives processing. ...
>
>...  I have found two products:  Ranger Archival Ink Stamp Pads,
>available at a number of art suppliers, and Archival Stamp Pad Ink,
>available from Conservation Resources. ...

Generally file folders are highly calendared and the inks which are
considered safe (ones that are pigments, not dyes) will smear on
them, sometimes even when dry, which is one more argument for using
pencil (which passes the PAT, I might add).

I have tested both of the inks you mentioned, and a number more, not
for file folders, but for stamps required by declassification
regulations. While the University Products ink you mentioned tested
to be a good ink, it is, or when we tested it was, a pigment
suspended in water, and it stayed on the stamp, so that only a few
stampings could be made before it was "gunked up".  The other
product, the Ranger Stamp Pad Ink in black, is an ink which tested
acceptable for marking paper.  However when the photoactivity test
was run, this ink failed, so it should not be used in any collection
where photographs might be interfiled.

Susan Lee-Bechtold
Chemist


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                  Conservation DistList Instance 21:26
                 Distributed: Sunday, October 14, 2007
                       Message Id: cdl-21-26-002
                                  ***