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I need your help. I want to buy some Mardi Gras stamps, and since SU! doesn't sell them, I have to buy them elsewhere. Someone here gave me a great site. However, the stamps are unmounted. I've only worked with SU! stamps or stamps I've bought at Michaels/Hobby Lobby.
How does the unmounted thing work? What do I have to buy to "mount" them? The website sells products for it, but can I get it for less $ at Michaels? If it helps, the website is www.franticstamper.com
I appreciate any help you ladies can give me. I desperately want Mardi Gras stamps, so I need to learn something new, which I have decided always costs money!
TIA,
Christine
__________________ "We don't see things as they are; we see them as we are." Anais Nin
I made the mistake of buying some unmounted stamps online. All I received was the rubber and it was very thin, I then had to search for foam sheets to cut and put between the rubber and the blocks of wood I eventually found for sale in a website. The stamps just don't ink up well, you can't beat the quality of the rubber in SU stamps. Good luck with your search
Although SU has the best rubber stamps around, if you have to get unmounted stamps there is an easy way to mount and use them. Put the loopy side of sticky velgro on the rubber. Then cut them out as usual. On a block of clear plastic, mount the soft side of the velgro.
If you prefer mounting foam, you can get it at stamping sensations. I haven't mounted with that so I can't help you there.
Hope you get wat you want. Good luck
I have a lot of UM stamps from Scottish Borders Stamping - she sells them both ways but for shipping to Canada, UMs are the way to go for me!
I use them on a "Ferrero Roche" chocolate container lid, glued a sheet of fun foam on it and them use mono tape on the back of the UM as I use it. It sticks to the fun foam really well and I just use the plactic lid as the big stamp :-) It is clear so I can line them up too.
I put an old mouse pad under the paper to help give the best inking result.
This works well for me. Some like the UM for storage reasons, I like the cheaper postage to Canada and work around it that way. I amy break down and try the acryllic blocks sometime but some of my UMs are larger than any block I have seen.
Hi!
I prefer wood mounted stamps, but I do have some unmounteds. For the unmounteds I have from Circus Circus stamps I use double stick tape and TAC clear mounts and I stamp on a padded surface for good impressions.
But a cool tip I learned a long time ago from another lady and it actually works is this. Get the really thick foam core board, one board isn't much money. Use rubber cement and glue the unmounted stamp the large piece of foam core board. They can all be placed fairly close together on the board, let dry and then use a craft knife and cut out the pieces. The new handle won't be square, it will be shaped like the image, but trust me this works.
Your image is on a handle, which is just enough to keep your fingers out of the ink. There is a bit of give in the foam core, so you don't have to worry about the image. You can see where the image is going since the handle is about the size of the image. And it's very light weight, and easy to store, and takes up less space than wood handles.
I even have a few of the large PSX flowers mounted this way and while not perfect, it does work. Although this system does work best for small to medium size stamps. You have to make sure to apply pressure all over the really large stamps to get a good image. But I'm happy with this way of mounting for my unmounted stamps.
Hope this helps.
Cynthia
Mounted stamps are nice because they are a no-brainer. You buy it, take it home, and use it immediately. However, there are two distinct disadvantages. One is price. Mounted stamps are at least twice as expensive as unmounted stamps. The other is storage space.
There are a lot of misconception regarding unmounted stamps that are not entirely true. For example the stamped image is not clear or they do not ink up well. A lot of people are put off by using unmounted stamps because it seems scary to have to mount your own stamps, or come up with a way to mount them temporarily. Permanently mounting a stamp is a snap. You cut around the edges of your rubber image (did I mention that extra sharp scissors are essential? I use Kai scissors), glue it to a piece of cushion, cut around the cushion, and glue the cushion to a block of wood or acrylic. But then you run into storage problems again.
There are 3 distinct methods: 1) Halos; 2) Cushion and cling; and 3) repositional glue which is the most simplistic of the mounting techniques…there really aren't any disadvantages.
Storage can be an issue with unmounted stamps, as well. Many people store them in binders - just cover the pages with velcro or cling, depending on your method of mounting. You can also store them in envelopes stamped with the image or an empty cd case. If you're using glue method, you can slap them to a wall.
Hopefully, this will have answered some of your questions.
I have a lot of umounted stamps that I use with acrylic blocks. I chose to use the "vinyl cling" method for mounting them. Basically, when you buy the stamps they often are "rubber die only"--meaning the sheet of rubber images. That's one reason they're inexpensive. You want to check that the company says their images are "deeply etched"--that means they're a good thick clear image like Stampin' Up stamps are.
For vinyl cling mounting, I bought sheets of vinyl cling cushion. One side is VERY sticky and the other is a smooth vinyl-like surface. You trim the rubber die image, place it on the sticky side of the cushion, and trim around it. You now have a rubber stamp w/cushion. The vinyl side clings perfectly to an acrylic block. You just slap it on there and it sticks in place. Then you stamp with it just like a wood-mounted one!
I like the fact that you can fix / control positioning with the cling cushion and acrylic blocks. And if you have a good quality rubber die, then the image is just as clear and perfect as wood-mounted stamps. Acrylic blocks come in all kinds of sizes, but I bought a set to cover all my bases and save $$.
I bought my set of blocks and my vinyl cling cushion from Sunday International--www.sundayint.com. The pack of 5 sheets of cling cushion mounted ALL my UM's (a whole binder full) and I still have a sheet and a half left. (I put all my dies as close together as possible before cutting out to conserve the cushion.)
What I like about my UMs is that I've found more unusual or alternative images from UM companies--as you've found w/your Mardi Gras stamps! Also, they store really well. I have hundreds in one 3 ring binder.
Ooh, I forgot a couple of money-saving UM stamp tips!
1. In lieu of acrylic blocks, your vinyl cushion UMs will also stick to ANY smooth surface--such as a mayo jar lid. You can also slap them on the lid of your Encore or Versamark ink pads if you happen to be too lazy to go downstairs and get out your box of acrylic blocks...I'm just sayin'. They stamp perfectly no matter what they're stuck to. The advantage to acrylic blocks, though, is being able to see placement really well.
2. Here's a great way to get UM stamps really cheap. Buy those foam-block-mounted boxed stamps at Michael's with a coupon or at Hobby Lobby, etc. You know, like the sets of greetings or themed sets that All Night Media and Stampabilities makes. You can easily pull the rubber die off and toss the foam block, trim around the image, and mount it on your vinyl cling cushion. Now you have a whole set of UM stamps that leave perfect images! I ended up with like 80 greetings / sentiments stamps this way, for about 20 bucks. I also did this with a boxed set of Celtic images. That vinyl cling cushion goes a loooong way!
Thank you all so much for your help. I really want Mardi Gras stamps, so I'm going to have to do the unmounted thing, even though I seem to have become a SU! snob.
I'll re-read all of this and check out Michaels and Hobby Lobby. Our Hobby Lobby is supposed to open after the 1st!!!!! They have been closed since Hurricane Ivan (September 16). I can't wait to get back in there!!!!
Thanks again,
Christine
__________________ "We don't see things as they are; we see them as we are." Anais Nin
Please explain "unmounted" stamps to me
