Dye Ink Pads

Ranger offers several ink pad lines, each having unique formulations and color palettes.

• Distress Ink Pads are dye inks that react with water, making them perfect for vintage effects, blending, and distressed backgrounds.
• Distress Oxide Ink Pads combine dye and pigment ink, creating a soft, oxidized look when sprayed with water.
• Archival Ink Pads are permanent and waterproof, ideal for crisp stamped images that won’t bleed when colored over.
• Simon Hurley Dye Inks and Simon Hurley Stellar Inks are dye inks known for vibrant color and smooth blending.
• 49 and Market Dye Inks are designed for seamless blends and layered color that coordinates with their paper collections.

Many crafters use more than one type depending on the look they want or the colors they have chosen.

All Ranger ink pads work well for stamping.  Choose the ink you like based on color or desired effect.

For blended backgrounds, Distress Ink Pads, Distress Oxide Ink Pads, Simon Hurley Dye Inks, and 49 and Market Inks are popular choices because they blend easily.

For water-reactive techniques, Distress Ink, Simon Hurley Dye Inks, Oxides, and 49 and Market Inks can be reactivated with water to create layered effects.

For heat embossing, inks that stay wet slightly longer can work, but dedicated embossing ink pads are still the easiest option because they are designed with a long open time.

Each Ranger ink pad has a coordinating re-inker, and it’s important to use the matching one. For example, Distress pads should be refilled with Distress Re-Inkers, and Archival pads should use Archival Re-Inkers.

To re-ink a pad, lightly apply the re-inker across the surface while squeezing the re-inker gently. Then you can use a craft scraper, piece of cardboard or a stamp to gently work the liquid into the ink pad with a light pushing motion.  Allow the ink to absorb before using the pad again.

Ranger also offers DIY Ink Pads, which are blank pads you can customize with re-inkers to create your own blended or ombré ink pads.