Welcome to the
wonderful world of unmounted rubber stamps! By buying your stamps
unmounted, you get a lot more for your money and you can also cut down
on bulky storage. There are many ways to mount stamps: wood and cushion, various systems you can buy, acrylic blocks, etc.
But before you go ahead with those, give these a try! Mounting your
stamps on simple foam cushion or foam board is fast, inexpensive and
easy, and it works! These tips, by the way, came from members of the
fabulous Stampsmith Yahoogroup! Read on...
Buy a large sheet of foam board or foam core found in any Michael's,
Staples or even local drugstore. I have found it in two thicknesses,
about 1/8-inch thick and 1/4-inch. They both work will but the thicker
kind does yield a better grip.
Put the foam core sheet on a cutting mat on your table. Cut out your
rubber stamp image. Wipe rubber cement onto the back of the stamp, then
press it onto the foam board.
With a sharp X-acto knife, cut or chop through the foam board around
the image. It doesn't have to be exact. It's a bit hard to cut through
the thicker foam, but again, worth it. When you're done cutting you are
ready to stamp!
You can grip your stamp mount and the foam in the middle provides the
cushion you need to get a good image. These hold up a long time through
many stampings.
If you'd like to see the image on the back of your stamp, just stamp it
on sticker paper, cut it out and stick it to the top back of your
stamp. That's it ~ give it a whirl!
Additional tips: Many, though not all Stampsmith stamps are finely
detailed, with photographic details captured in tiny dots on the
rubber. Such fine detail means the stamp should be as clean as
possible. These stamps perform ideally with regular dye ink padds on
glossy paper, though of course you can get good results with other inks
and papers. Some stampers use a brayer to roll the ink onto the stamp.
Whatever mounting system you use, make sure your stamp has cushion to
give all the detail the support it needs to yield a crisp, beautiful
impression.
Questions? Contact estelle@stampsmith.net
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