Cut n’ Dry Felt & Foam
By Liz Sewald and Ranger

Cut n’ Dry Felt & Foam Pads accept all types of viscous, water and solvent-based ink.
Foam: Ideal for creating shading and distress effects by rubbing CnD Foam directly from ink pad to paper; more control and softer edges then direct from the ink pad; to create a custom ink pad the following inks are ideal for CnD Foam: Distress Ink™, Nick Bantock Dye Ink, Adirondack® Dye Ink, Adirondack® Dimensional Pearls™, Liquid Pearls™ and Emboss It™ Ink. 

Felt: The perfect medium for creating custom dye stamp pads using the following inks: Adirondack®, Tim Holtz Distress Inks™, Nick Bantock Collection™, Clear Resist™, 213 Inks™ and Jet Black Archival Ink.

Make Your Own Rainbow
1. Either use a scrap of Cut n’ Dry or cut your pad to the size of the wood or foam block your rubber stamp is mounted to or to the desired size necessary for your project.

2. Over a protective surface, apply several colors of ink. When placing complimentary colors together, such as blue and orange, red and green or purple and yellow, remember to leave a space between the inks or they will immediately blend to produce brown. Also, keep in mind that dark tones will overtake light shades and that dye inks spread quickly across the felt pad.

3. Create a rainbow with vertical, horizontal or diagonal stripes; a bull’s eye design or rainbow curves. Create a monochromatic rainbow pad with coordinating Adirondack colors.

4. Store your inked rainbow pad by placing it in cling wrap (in a storage bag it could move around and mix the colors).

Make a Custom Color Pad
1. Choose a detailed rubber stamp that will look great with several colors of ink strategically placed on the design (a perfect use for Holiday Cards!).

2. Using Jet Black Archival™ Ink, stamp the foam/felt; be sure to align the edges of your stamp mount with the edges of your cut pad. With stamp still in place, trace outline of block with a pen and cut out so the Cut n’ Dry is the same size as the stamp block that you used. Clean stamp with Cleansit Stamp Cleaner and set aside.

3. Using reinkers, color stamped image by gently squeezing ink onto the outlined part of the image. DO NOT APPLY TOO MUCH INK. Inks will blend and bleed over time but not overlap. It will still stamp fine. Note: I find it helpful to stamp out one of the images and mark the colors used for future reinking…you’ll know what is where!

4. Line up stamp to “custom” pad you just created (lining up is easy because the CnD is cut to the same size as the stamp!). Press down onto the pad to ink the stamp; a little pressure may be needed. Stamp image onto cardstock.
Tip: When using dye ink, use water brush to further “blend” image for a more watercolor effect.

Other Tips
• With Pigment Ink: stamp image from custom ink pad three times, NOT reinking between
   stampings. Emboss with clear embossing powder. You will have three generations of the image
   cool! (This works great with bold/brush stroke flower images.)

• Make a stamp with the gray side of CnD. Cut out any shape and ink. Use a heat tool on it for a
   few seconds and press into a textured object; you now have your own custom textured stamp!

• Create a “puddle pad”. This is great for stamps of leaves, background or solid image stamps.
   Drop dots of color onto a cut out piece of CnD, then stamp…this works best with dye inks and
   with same color families. Turn the stamp a different direction each time when stamping (clean in
   between stampings) to create a different look with each stamping.
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