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Opened a Classic Stampin' Pad and found a surprise...
Yes, the pad is very old and hasn't been opened in about five years. But when I opened it today it both freaked and grossed me out. The pad itself still has plenty of ink but I had to scrape off the barnacles first. It dried just fine which I understand has been a problem in the past. I wouldn't call the shade Real Red anymore but it's over 5 years old, so who can blame the poor thing. It was Real Gross though.;).
I have called SU in the past when I have had issues with my stamp pads and they have replaced them. One of the stamp pads that needed replacing was real red. It didn't look like yours does - my issue was more of the ink staining the stamp and the ink not drying on the cards.
I had the same thing happen with a real red pad years ago. I had forgotten all about it until I saw your post. I wonder if it's only a "real red" problem. All I remember is ick!!!
Eew! I bought the Sea Street stamp set and paper with the cute little lobster, crab, starfish, and octopus... but your Real Red barnacles are something I never want to find in my craft room!
Is it possible some embossing powder got onto you pad?
I know my Versamark Watermark ink pad, once a beautiful white, now looks like a Jackson Pollack painting.
If you call Stampin Up maybe they can help you out. If it still works but is thick and from the looks of it is one of the old canvas top pads, you can try using a little solvent on a portion of the pad to rehydrate it. Usually, a little solvent revitalizes the dried up ink better than adding new ink. At least with the old pads, I'd never use solvent on the new foam pads.
I hope you get an answer to your dilemma.
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If I hadn't been so desperate (stubborn)to finish a project, I'd have just tossed it due to a bad case of the willies. At first, I was so shocked that I put it on my desk and stepped back because at that point I wasn't sure if they were bugs of some sort. It took me a few seconds before I got close again, lol. Now I'm kind of scared of all my other neglected pads!
I don't think it was embossing powder. The barnacles were soft...eww, I know. I just grossed myself out, lol. I'm thinking it was....dang, I have no idea. Little blobs of eww.
I had the same thing happen with my Real Red ink pad......the growth covered a larger area.
I purchased my ink pad when SU first came to New Zealand, and had used it heaps (no embossing powder though). I contacted the office for SU and they explained that there was a problem with the pad, however they had replaced all the faulty ones they knew about ...and unfortunately, I was too late for them to do anything about it. They were not going to swap the pad, or give me a new one....
I asked them I'd I was basically sh*t out of luck, and she said yes, sorry.
I threw my pad away, and have not purchased any more ink of SU....and I probably never will due to the lack of customer service on a known problem.
That is a new one for me! Yuck! I think if I found that on my ink pad, I'd throw away and buy a new one, preferably not from SU.
Most of the complaints about SU's red ink pads tend to be for the strange phenomenon where the pad develops this yellowish gold sheen on the top. It's happened to a lot of my SU pads like real red, baroque burgundy, etc.
Is humidity a problem where you live? Just wondering if maybe too much moisture is causing some bacteria to grow on the surface. Good luck!
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It's not mold or anything dangerous. It's a known problem with many of the red based pads. It's much better with the new foam pads but can still happen. It's more of an oxidization type thing.
And in my experience SU WILL replace a pad even if it's quite old if this happens to you. I'm sorry if they haven't for some of you, normally they go above and beyond in customer service and again, they know this happens from time to time. It's odd, as it doesn't happen to everyone or all red based pads but I've had a few. Again, please don't think it's mold or bacteria or anything, lol! :-) It's the same as the "sheen" that Mary Rose mentioned...sometimes it's just a sheen and sometimes it's the crusty barnacle (good analogy lol) stuff. And again, in my experience, the new foam pads have FAR less issues with it. Contact your demo and he or she should be able to assist you!
Oh, and as a side note, it did tend to happen to my lesser used pads for whatever reason. Maybe they were offended....LOL! ;-)
Same thing happened to my real red pad...I thought it was contamination from versa mark (when I'd ink up with versa mark first for embossing purposes). I stopped using real red in favor of cherry cobbler, but found the same stuff on mine. I tossed mine...doh!
Opened a Classic Stampin' Pad and found a surprise...
