How do I use unmounted rubber stamps?

[sillysausage]

Hello guys, I hope you can help me! I bought some stamps recently, online, and I obviously didn't read the product description closely enough (too carried away by the pretty designs!), now they've arrived and they are unmounted rubber stamps and I haven't got the faintest clue as to what to do with them. Can any of you enlighten me please? TIA :flower:

[sheilaj]

okay, you need to get some mounts, either acrylic block or rock a blocks or fiskars do a big stamping thing with a grid on called the easy stamp press....lucky you to be starting now and to be able to choose which way to go!
You can stick the images to the flat blocks with glue stick but if you do, you have to wash the stamp and the block after every session.
You can also buy stuff called U Mount or EX Mount that sticks to the back of the stamps and turns then into self clining stamps like the clear ones or the see d's. You then need a non acid cling base to store them on when not in use.

I have to be honest...i have on set of UM stamps that were a freebie with a mag subscription and one set that were a real bargain, but I find them a lot of faff and prefer my clears or wood mounted ;)
I am sure that other more knowledgeable folk will be along to talk to you about the pros and cons of stamp mount and blocks but i hope this is enough to start you off?

[vampyre]

It's a combination though. The stamp and whatever type of block you go for, the ink and the card all make a difference and also how you intend to colour them in. You can get a clingy sheet that sticks to the block and you put the paper cover on it between uses. Quite a bit more economical than using the u mount/ez mount etc products. I like rock a blocks btw.

[Phree]

A word about the various cling cushion foams out there. There a 3 main brands on sale, U-Mount, Ez-Mount and Kling-On. First two are great, but avoid Kling-on because unless they have improved it in the last 18 months or so (can't quite recall when I last bought any Kling-On) it's ability to cling to an acrylic stamp block is rather unreliable. I find that I quite often ink up my stamp, then as I hold the stamp over my project the stamp just falls away from the block and of course lands inkside down on my work spoiling it. I never have this problem with Ez-Mount or U-Mount.

What I don't think anyone mentioned - the cling foam is foam for a reason it provides cushiong which helps get a better impression - similar to the way rubber mounted on wood blocks has a foam layer between the stamp itself and the wood block.

[fabyon]

Ez-mount or U-mount for me all the way. You can then reuse the stamp like if it were an acrylic one. No faffing about using adhesives etc.....and also the cushioning evens out overkeen pressure when stamping.

Ma che fine hai fatto mi stavo preoccupando ! :D

[LoobyLou]

Alternatively you can use tack n peel on your blocks and just stamp over something with a bit of give in it, say for example a mouse mat or pricking mat if you do pergamano. Tack n peel is quite expensive per small sheet, but you only need to apply it once to whichever sized block you need and not have to keep buying and buying and buying it. Also you don't have to stick a cushion to your stamps and then cut round them to get a nice line which won't catch the ink all the while gluing up your scissors. The best bit of all for me, unmounted stamps take up half as much space as mounted ones. I store mine in walleted punch pockets in lever arch binders, and since I removed all the mounting cushions from mine I was able to store them in half as many binders as when they had cushioning on them.

[sillysausage]

Hi all, thank you so much for your replies, and sorry for the absence, work has been mad! I have bought a sheet of EZ-mount in the end. I made a big mistake today: I was in London for a meeting and went into a lovely stamp shop in Bloomsbury. Now, there aren't many craft shops near where I live, so I do most of my shopping online which means that when I finally visit a proper shop, I am like a kid in a sweet shop, totally out of control! Some damage was done, but I have worked like a mad thing lately, sleeping 3 hours per night, so I figured I deserved a treat (please confirm this is a totally legitimate justifcation!!). I saw the ez-mount sheet, which i remembered mentioned here, so I bought it and the lady in the shop kindly showed me what to do with it. Then, since I thought the ez-mount was larger than my stamps, a bought another lovely unmounted buttefly stamp (just to make the ez-mount purchase cost effective, you see!), and also fell for a couple of the Tim Holtz wooden stamps. I also got a gorgeous american mag on altered art that I had never seen before, I really fancy having a go at that, especially now that I've got all of these lovely stamps. I had never considered stamping really until I started reading Craft Stamper... It's been a slippery slope since!!!! Thanks again for sharing your tips with me, I'll use this thread as a reference! x

[fabyon]

Hi all, thank you so much for your replies, and sorry for the absence, work has been mad! I have bought a sheet of EZ-mount in the end. I made a big mistake today: I was in London for a meeting and went into a lovely stamp shop in Bloomsbury. Now, there aren't many craft shops near where I live, so I do most of my shopping online which means that when I finally visit a proper shop, I am like a kid in a sweet shop, totally out of control! Some damage was done, but I have worked like a mad thing lately, sleeping 3 hours per night, so I figured I deserved a treat (please confirm this is a totally legitimate justifcation!!). I saw the ez-mount sheet, which i remembered mentioned here, so I bought it and the lady in the shop kindly showed me what to do with it. Then, since I thought the ez-mount was larger than my stamps, a bought another lovely unmounted buttefly stamp (just to make the ez-mount purchase cost effective, you see!), and also fell for a couple of the Tim Holtz wooden stamps. I also got a gorgeous american mag on altered art that I had never seen before, I really fancy having a go at that, especially now that I've got all of these lovely stamps. I had never considered stamping really until I started reading Craft Stamper... It's been a slippery slope since!!!! Thanks again for sharing your tips with me, I'll use this thread as a reference! x

Next time you come down to London we should go together and shop at RubberBlade shop next to the British Museum ! Aho ! :D

[sillysausage]

Yep, Fabyon, that's the one, can you believe it I had already forgotten then name??? Lovely, lovely shop. Deal, next time I'm in London, I let you know. I have my eye on a couple of more of their stamps. It really is something else to buy when you can see tings irl. Some of those Tim Holtz rubber stamps are really beautiful *sigh*

[Phree]

Um........ I feel the urge to do some enabling ........ you don't need to go to London to shop in Blade

http://www.bladerubberstamps.co.uk/

Have fun :D

[LoobyLou]

Blade Rubber was the forum that started off Joanna Sheen's forum. I have very happy memories of my time on there before some spammers ruined it. Jo Sheen started a forum up so us Blade Rubber forum members would have a place to chat, and well, the rest is history.

[sillysausage]

Um........ I feel the urge to do some enabling ........ you don't need to go to London to shop in Blade

http://www.bladerubberstamps.co.uk/

Have fun :D

Oh, Thanks Phree, I hadn't realised they had a web site! I feel all excited and enabled, but my husband would like a word with you... LOL ;-)

[sillysausage]

Thanks Looby, I wasn't aware of the Joanna Sheen's forum. Is it still running? I might have to google it!

[LoobyLou]

Yes, there should be a link off of her main website.