When Cardmaking Give Your Stamps A Few Minutes Care - Get A Lifetime of Use.....

Once hooked on rubber stamping you will soon find yourself with a good collection of stamps - some you will have bought and many will have been bought for you as presents.

Once family and friends learn of your love of cardmaking and stamping they should never have to worry about what to buy you as a gift again!

Stamps, especially wood mounted ones, are not cheap but if they are properly cared for they will last you through your cardmaking lifetime.

If you get into the habit of caring for them right from the start it will become second nature to you.

Let's talk about Stamp Storage first:

For Traditional Rubber Stamps:

1. Always store away from direct sunlight. If you leave them out in sunlight over time the rubber will perish and the stamp will become useless.

2. To start off use something like a shoe box or a clean pizza box for storage. As your collection grows you might want to invest in a proper storage system, such as those avaliable from office suppliers or home improvement stores.

TIP: If you're using a shoe box why not use your Background Papers to make it look pretty!

3. Either store your stamps flat with the rubber side facing down or stand them up on edge (like a row of soldiers!).

TIP: There's nothing more frustrating than having to go through a whole row of stamps to find the one you want so why not make a numbered index on a separate piece of paper.You will just have to count down the row to get to the one you want.

If you are storing them flat we recommend you go only 2 deep as you do not want to have excessive weight on the rubber.

TIP: Never store your stamps on a wire basket as the wires can dig into the stamp and damage the rubber. You can also damage them by just throwing them into a pile - don't do it!

For Clear (Polymer) Stamps:

1. Most clear stamps come in sets, normally sandwiched between 2 sheets of plastic. Try to keep your stamps in these.

2. You can either store the packs in specially bought stamp wallets or a cheaper way is to use old ice cream boxes (cleaned out of course!).

3. Keep the packs on their edges rather than stacking them on top of each other.

4. If you have clear stamps which don't come on their own plastic sheets then you can buy storage sheets from cardmaking retailers or just pop each stamp into an enevelope which will protect it.

Now let's get onto Cleaning Your Stamps:

Golden Rule: If you get into the routine of cleaning your stamps after each cardmaking session, it will soon become second nature to you. Your stamps will produce better images and will last longer.

1: Never immerse wooden stamps in water. It will erode the adhesive and the rubber will eventually drop off.

2. Stamp any excess ink onto a scrap of paper or a piece of kitchen roll.

3:Clean the stamps with either baby or wet wipes. But make sure they are alcohol and lint free.

4:If you are using a solvent ink such as StazOn you can only clean the ink off with a specially formulated cleaner such as StazOn Cleaner.

TIP: If the stamps are particularly dirty use an old soft toothbrush to get into the corners.

TIP: Some people get upset if the wooden bases get ink stained - one way to prevent this is to carefully cover the wood with clear nail varnish.

5: Clear stamps should be washed in soapy water. This will increase their stickiness.



Rubber Stamping Basics

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