Action Avec Ink Pads Review: A Pastel Nightmare

So, let’s talk about cheap ink pads from the Action store. In this case I’m talking about an Avec ink pads and stamp set (€2,69). 

I bought a set of 12 pastel colored beautiful nice-looking heart shaped ink pads which come with 6 wood rubber stamps. 

Avec stamps that promised 12 hues of heart-shaped happiness. 

Let me just preface this by saying I walked in with high hopes and a wallet full of misplaced optimism. 

I mean, 12 pastel-colored ink pads for practically no money? That’s either a bargain or a warning label in disguise, but I chose to see it as destiny. 

Spoiler: destiny sometimes has terrible taste in crafting supplies.

When I got home, I decided to introduce my shiny new stamps to my handcrafted mango-stamp (yes, mango, because sometimes art imitates snack time). 

I didn’t further try with the included stamps because, well, there wasn’t a single paint splash that had intentions to stick on the rubber. So it was end of story immediately.

The plan was simple: ink, stamp, admire. But these pads had other ideas.

First, I tried them dry. Nothing. The stamp didn’t even shrug. 

So, I gently hydrated them with a few drops of water, like an optimist watering a plastic plant just to see what happens. 

Did that help? Eh, a little. Some colors begrudgingly whispered their presence onto the paper, but most of them just sat there, unimpressed, like, “Why are you even trying?”

To be fair, a few colors produced a subtle, soft blend. But subtle wasn’t what I was going for. I wanted bold! Vibrant! 

The first time I tested them, I didn’t take photos. So the photo I show you now has a white paper with the stamping results after using them only one time. 

Which wasn’t that much of a difference. On white paper the paint and color totally vanishes. 

You could try on beige paper, which I also did, which resulted in the ink trying to be somewhat visible. 

Using black paper is more or less a desperate solution, but as you can see, the colors are quite similar and don’t stand out as much as their implied hues suggest.

Would I buy these stamps again? Absolutely not. Would I give them to a grandchild? Nope and not just because I don’t have any. (Though I might let my cat play with them if she looked particularly bored.) 

The best I can say is that they’re good for background noise on paper, or maybe for testing your patience.

Final verdict: 2/10. Pretty to look at, disappointing in practice; kind of like a beautifully wrapped gift box that’s empty inside.