Stamp Pads by Steph Schirmer

Where would we be without of favorite stamp pads? The basis for most of the stamping we do is done with stamp pads or paint. There are a wide variety of stamp pads on the market and finding the ones you like the best is often a hard job to do.

Are you a person who has to have every pad on the market or one of every color? Do you find yourself buying a few of each then dwindling it down to the favorite ones you like and buying all the colors? Do you keep up with the new pads of your favorites? Like most of us, when a new pad comes on the market we are all eager to try it. I know several stampers who purchase a few of their favorite colors and that is all they buy of it, while others can’s live without every color.

A suggestion when buying a stamp pad is always try and buy the re-inker with it, that way if you truly use it a lot you can just re-ink. Since so many of us stamp with black a re-inker is a big plus here. Besides re-inking pads, they can also be used in the shaving cream background, painting color on items, and several other techniques, so they are great to have on hand.

Some of the most favorite stamp pads that were brought up were:
1. StazOn
2. VersaMark
3. Adirondak
4. Distress Pads
5. Colorbox Fluid Chalk
6. Brilliance
7. Ancient Page
8. VersaFine

All of these pads can be used numerous ways from embossing to direct paper to distressing.
1. StazOn and Brilliance are great for non-porous surfaces such as dominos and shrink plastic.
2. A suggestion for VersaMark was water marking, but get a second one for embossing that way there is no chance of contamination. Another pad great for watermarking is Clear Resist.
3. Adirondak’s are a great dye pad and come in an array of colors. They are great
for putting color down with sponges on glossy and matte paper. The color combinations are beautiful.
4. The distress pads are great for all kinds of uses, from direct to paper to stamping to highlighting edges. Some of the colors give a softer effect while others a deeper and sometimes brighter color.
5. Ancient Page have a softer pad over the harder felt pads, so if they are juicy you don’t have to push the stamp on them very hard to ink them.
6. The Colorbox Fluid Chalk are beautiful pastel chalk pads and so nice to use for direct to paper on glossy and just wipe off for a pretty sheen.
7. VersaFine is great for crisp images, for bold or detailed, permanent

There are many other stamp pads out there on the market. Here are some you might have or want to check out:
1. Kaleidacolor
2. Vivid
3. StampinUp line
4. Colorbox
5. Memories
6. Marvy’s
7. Catseyes

There are several pads that are a rainbow pad and when you use these you get a variety of colors and there are several on the market. There are even lines of single color pads that have a rainbow one made using several of the colors together so they compliment each other beautifully.

Just remember that pigment pads stay juicy longer and you can emboss with them while dye pads dry more quickly. If you use pigment pad on glossy you must emboss or it won’t dry. While some dye pads can be embossed remember to do what the manufacturers say about their pads. To keep the ink in dye pads at the top turn them over and that way the ink will be at the top the next time you stamp.

If you have problems with your inks pads contact the manufacture, in some cases if they have had a lot of complaints they can replace the pad for you.

Stamp pads can be a great tool in your creative process and bring a lot into you art. Spend a day and experiment with your pads and see what you can produce.

Thanks to everyone who provided with help for my column I can’t do it without you.

Steph Schirmer
sschirmer@stampersmall.com
 

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