ink

[thechecker]

I have mostly SU! dye ink, and have been fairly happy. The pads are getting to be a few years old, and I have been starting to notice the foam bulging out in areas around the edges, but it hasn't affected my stamping yet.

For my mom's xmas cards, I used a TON of chocolate chip. I had to reink several times, and used up my whole reinker. I did have some problems getting the stamps to stamp evenly, especially with the verse on the inside of the card. (Out of the first 50 cards, I think 9 or 10 had to be covered with the verse stamped on separate cardstock.)

This was bothering me, so I went thru my ink drawer and found an Inpress! ink pad I had purchased locally at least 3 years ago. I did the next 50 cards using it and only had ONE image stamp unevenly.

Is the problem I have getting good even coverage caused by the fact that I always grab my SU! inkpads? Anyone else noticed an improvement in stamping with a pad change?

Just curious,
Anne

[GGstampin']

Hi Anne- I would have to have your ink pad in my hands to tell you for sure. But I do know from experience here, with some of my customers they only use the center of the pads- I have shown them how to "walk the pad" with their stamps, it stops your pad from eventually bulging on the sides and hollowing in the middle. It could also be in how it was reinked, I tend to drop slow steady drops across the pad surface rather than just in spots- I kind of rub it in with the tip of the reinker. My pads are almost 6 years old and are used pretty much every day, (sometimes all day long lol) havent had to replace any yet-other than purchasing multiples of some for classes. Congratulations on making all those cards, that is awesome!!

[nixy_brown]

You can use a brayer to even out the surface of a ink pad that has started to come up at the edges. Mine do this because I always tend to use the middle. When I start having problems with them I just use the brayer to ink up my stamps for a little while and the pad seems to flatten back out. Hope this helps.

[thechecker]

thanks for the tips. I mostly ink the stamp randomly all over the pad, and I do use the edges a lot when I take the pad to the stamp. I will try the brayer.

Anne

[Allistamps123]

I have never reinked any of my SU pads and I've been stamping for four years. I did 50 invites for my daughter's shower on a Pink Passion pad that is three to four years old. Granted it hadn't seen a ton of use before that. I only make a few cards per month so maybe that is why. I have read about ink pad refresher. I read a post a few months back that said the ink many times has not run out, just dried a bit. I was always going get some to see how it works. My pads are not bulging or dipping in the middle....maybe I just need to stamp more!