TIPS & TECHNIQUES: Sizzix Tips | Three Specialty Pads - What is The Difference?

Sizzix offers three different black specialty pads- the Silicone Rubber Pad, the Impression Pad, and the Premium Crease Pad.  

People often get confused about what the differences are between these pads and what they are used for.  I thought it might be helpful to take a look at each one and talk about what it is used for.

But first, a quick tip... If you find yourself confused about what pads you have or have found yourself inadvertently grabbing the wrong pad, take a permanent opaque marker or paint pen and write the name of the pad on the pad with the marker.  

It has helped me a time or two to double check what I am doing when I am crafting in the wee hours of the night.  When I first added these specialty pads to my die cutting stash I marked them as I took them out of the package.  I keep this marker in my die cutting supplies and use it to mark on the foam of my dies too when I want to add a line on them for lining up my paper (I do this a lot with On the Edge dies).  You could add adhesive labels as well, but I prefer markers so that I don't change the thickness of the materials.

The Silicone Rubber Pad is soft and pliable.  You could compare it to the feel of a mouse pad, but thinner.  The Silicone Rubber Pad is combined with the Impressions Pad to emboss using Texturz embossing plates as well as metal and thin plastic stencils.

The Premium Crease Pad is a semi-rigid pad that is bendable, but not as bendable as the Silicone Rubber Pad.  A crease pad is used with dies that have crease or score blades.  It replaces the top clear cutting pad on a Sizzix sandwich on dies with creases and scores.  If you use standard cutting plates with a die and have it cut through where it should fold, a Crease Pad is your solution.

Unsure if your die needs a crease pad? 
 Simply check the back of the product packaging or check the die's listing on Sizzix.com.  (You can learn more about that Sizzix.com feature and others in this article from out blog: Which Die Cutting Supplies Do I Need? )

The Impression Pad is hard and rigid and has the Sizzix logo embossed into it.  You can not bend this pad at all. Besides being very rigid.  When combined with a the Silicone Pad, you can emboss materials using metal and plastic stencils.  The Impressions Pad is used for embossing with stencils or Texturz Plates and should not be used with dies. 

 You do not want to confuse this pad with the Crease Pad! 
Use an Impressions Pad in place of a Crease Pad can damage your die.

When you combine an Impression Pad with a Silicone Rubber pad along with select Thinlits dies, you can not only cut but also emboss and stencil!

 

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by Tammy Tutterow

 

Check out this tutorial here to see the specialty pads being used.