Monday, June 11, 2012

Stampin' Up! New Foam Ink Pads?

6/11/12

Have you tried the new Stampin' Up! foam ink pads?

I just cracked the seal on the new in-colours - which are now in a new FOAM format.

There are actually 2 things that are new with the reformatted ink pads - make that 3 since some of the colours had to be reformulated and the reinkers changed (they are Basic Black, Basic Grey, Tempting Turquoise, Marina Mist and Perfect Plum).

The first is obviously the ink pad itself is now foam and not felt.

The second change is that you get a nifty label included in the packaging.  I have to admit that I had trouble with mine but luckily I had to do it 5 times and by the end of it I was a pro labelller!

The new foam pads are supposed to be better than the old felt ones at keeping their shape.  I know some of my original felt ink pads are do dipped in the middle it's nearly impossible to use them - especially for solid image stamping.

But keep in mind that some of these ink pads are almost 8 years old!

The new foam pads are also supposed to give you better coverage - especially for those solid image stamps that I mentioned above.

So I gave it a try.


The top row is done with Gumball Green and the bottom row is Always Artichoke.
Now granted this ink pad could use some reinking but whenever I do that I get weird blotches on the solid background stamps.


I have to say that I am impressed with the way the image came out using the new foam pad.

But is it worth it?


I'm so tempted to replace all my ink pads with the new ones and get the new ink refills as well.

Anyone else do that?  If you did, please tell me what you did with your old ink pads?

I'm so close to putting in that order but I want to think about it first since it's almost $200 worth of inks! Yikes!

Also I'd like to hear from those of you who didn't replace their inks with all new ones.

Other than financial reasons why didn't you?

 Is it the smell?  I've heard complaints over the years about the smell of foam pads when they get a bit older.

Thanks for your input....
 

8 comments:

  1. Maybe offer up the old ones as blog candy? I only have 2 SU ink pads - would love to have some more but can't afford them!

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  2. I want to try them. I've held off on ordering pads for a while now even after the new colors came out so I'm really glad I waited.

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  3. I bought the new InColours and love the firm foam ink pads. I have reinkers for most of my ink pads, but as soon as a reinker is emptied I will buy the new firm foam ink pad. That way I can replace them gradually over time.

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  4. Completely OFF Topic: I cannot see your date for each blog entry. Often when I see something "neat" I make a note in my Thinking Book to reference back to a specific date.

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  5. Do the old reinkers work with the new stamp pads. It just inked mine up and the ink seems to be sitting on the top...yikes what do I do now! I have a class in the morning!

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  6. Sorry but for some reason my date code is not working with this blog template. I've started adding the date manually to the top of each post.

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  7. Denise I'm sorry to hear that your re-inking is not going well. I haven't had to re-ink any of mine yet but I do know that some of the colours changed so I hope you are using the "right" colour ink for your new ink pads.
    As for the ink sitting on top I believe that you have to re-ink like the versamark pads - use the tip of the ink bottles to push the ink into the pad. Maybe someone else who has re-inked their new ink pads could comment?

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  8. Marjorie has a really good idea about replacing with a new inkpad when the re-inker run's out for the old model. WITH THE EXCEPTION of the following: My first purchase and impression was the new in-colors, Gumball Green, Midnight Muse, Primrose Petals, Summer Starfruit, & Raspberry Ripple. The image was so crisp and the pads were soupy (but not overly soupy- I love me soupy inkpads) so, I was so excited with my experience that I quickly got the new in-colors once the new catalog was released. I love the new in-colors, they are so yummy. Anyway, I was quickly disappointed when I went to stamp, the pads were dry and barely inked. Surely, I thought, this was not the norm?! So I ordered Soft Sky and Smoky Slate. The same problem with them! Stampin' Up! of course made it right and promptly sent re-inkers for all the colors, which I appreciated, but if I would have been a new customer, SU very well may have lost me.

    I know I am picky and I expect nothing but the best when it comes to my supplies, but my expectations were set with the perfectly inked pads I got the first time.

    Now I know I need to automatically purchase re-inkers with each new inkpad I purchase. I would hate to think that this is SU's way of boosting more sales. Buying the inkpad, your already invested, so you either cut the loss or go ahead and buy a re-inker.

    SU told my Demonstrator that there have been no other complaints. It doesn't sound logical that I am the only one that experienced this problem with 7 different inkpads?!

    Anyway, there you have it.

    ~Shawnie B.
    Shawnie@CardsByShawnie.com
    www.CardsByShawnie.com

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