Rubber Stamps for Cardmaking

Using Rubber Stamps for cardmaking is a lot of fun and can be very rewarding.

"Definition: handstamp:
a stamp (usually made of rubber)
for imprinting a mark or design by hand
~Wordnet"

Are you new to stamping? You may wonder what to do with stamps that come to you unattached (unmounted) to their blocks, and you may also wonder how to get all the ink off them once you have used them.

Stampin' Up! stamps usually arrive unmounted though they are die-cut. All you need to do is to remove them from their sheet, unpeel the sticky on the back and press them onto a wooden block provided. I always take all of the wooden blocks in a set and match up the stamps to their sized block before sticking them down.

After you have applied your stamps to their blocks, add the clear graphic of that stamp to the other side of the block. Make sure you put it on the right way up or you will forever be stamping upside down by mistake! Lol!

If you order your stamps through an online store or craft shop, they may arrive unmounted and not die cut. By this I mean they need to be cut out from a single rubber sheet and placed on wooden or clear acrylic blocks. Here are some tips for how to do that.

Rubber Stamps and Wooden Blocks

First consider your wooden blocks. Many people like to seal them before they mount their stamps because a sealant such as varnish makes it easier to wipe ink stains off the wooden blocks. Stains sometimes happen when you share your tools with others who are just learning how to stamp, for example. I have been known to cause ink stains on my own stamps because I was distracted doing something else! Stains on the wooden blocks don't really worry me too much, though.

If stains on your wooden blocks will worry you, I recommend you seal those blocks first. Use a clear varnish to do this and make sure it is completely dry before mounting your stamps. Many people use one or two (or more - even up to four!) coats of varnish to seal their blocks.

If you still get stained wooden blocks after sealing them, you can always lightly sand your blocks and reseal them for a fresh new look.

How do I mount my stamps?

Mounting Wooden Block Stamps

If you need to cut out your rubber stamps, use sharp scissors (preferably special rubber cutting scissors) to cut straight lines near the image. You will want to stay close to the image but not cut into it. Straight cutting lines work better than curved ones. Straight lines around your images don't pick up as much unwanted ink as curved ones seem to. You are aiming to trim away enough of the rubber so it will not mar your paper by putting ink where you don't want it to show.

I sometimes even trim die cut stamps (ones that have been punched out by machine) if I think the edges left are too wide. It's a matter of personal preference how close you trim, as long as you don't take away so much rubber that the image is compromised.

Most unmounted rubber stamps have their own clear image sticker with adhesive on the back. Position this on the other side of your wooden block so you will always know which image is attached opposite.

Here's what to do to mount your stamps:

• Choose a wooden block that is similar in size to your unmounted image
  
• Unpeel the adhesive backing sheet from your stamp, and, keeping the image as level with the block as possible, press it firmly onto one flat side of the wooden block.
  
• Unpeel the clear image and, checking to be sure it is the right way up for the rubber image, press it firmly to the other side of the wooden block.
  

You should now be done with mounting your wooden stamp!

Mounting Acrylic Stamps

Acrylic stamps usually come to you on a sheet of clear plastic or polypropylene. You may need to purchase some acrylic (clear) blocks in addition to your images. All I do is choose an acrylic block that is close in size to my image, peel that image off the backing sheet and place it on my acrylic block. The image should adhere to the block all by itself.

When I am done stamping, I clean my image, peel it off the block and return it to its sheet.

Cleaning your acrylic stamps can be done in a similar way to cleaning stamps on wooden blocks. If they lose their stickiness and will not adhere to their acrylic mounting blocks, just rinse them under warm (not hot) water and dry them with a lint free cloth or stamp drying pad. They should then regain their stickiness.

Stamp Cleaning

If you want to keep your rubber or acrylic stamps in top condition, be sure to clean them properly every time you use them. Dried ink in the creases and ridges of your stamps can blur the image and cut down on the detail you can achieve.

Both rubber and acrylic stamps can be cleaned by using a stamp cleaner and a cleaning pad. There are special acrylic cleaning solutions but I just use the Stampin' Up! rubber stamp cleaner solution (Stampin' Mist).

When I first started out with my papercrafting hobbies, I used a flat plastic dish to which I added an old washer that I had wrung out with plain water. When I finished making my image, I spritzed the image on the block with water and then placed it face down on the face washer and rubbed till I got most of the ink off.* These days, I do use a special rubber stamp cleaning solution and a stamp scrubbing pad instead and find it works MUCH better. The Stampin' Mist has a rubber conditioner in it that helps keep your stamping rubber from drying out and cracking.

To use a Stampin' Up! stamp cleaning pad, decide which of the two scrubbers will be wet and which one you will leave dry. Remove one of the scrubbers from and wet it down under running water. Damp dry it with an old towel and replace it in the Stampin' Scrub holder. You can then spritz some Stampin' Mist on the damp scrubber and use it to clean your stamps. Once you have cleaned the stamp, rub it dry on the dry scrubber.

Of course, the wet washer technique works well only with water-based inks, not with permanent inks like Stazon. A commercially made rubber cleaner (Stampin' Up! sells one) is best to use when removing Stazon ink. Just spritz the cleaner onto your inked rubber stamp and scrub it off as you would for water based inks. You may still be left with some faint stains on the rubber but you will not be left with caked ink on your images and none of the stains should subsequently come off on your stamping projects.

Don't worry if there is a bit of a stain from Stazon ink left on your rubber stamp after you have cleaned it.

If you are concerned that unwanted ink will still rub off on your project, clean your stamp a second time.

One way to tell if it is clean enough is to stamp the freshly cleaned rubber or acrylic onto scratch paper. If it still leaves a faint image, clean it again. If there is no image left on the paper, it is clean enough.

*NOTE: If you have wooden mounted images, be sure to avoid saturating the wood with water or other liquids as you clean them because the wood will swell and/or warp and the adhesive holding the image in place may lift. You won't get clear stamped images under these circumstances.

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