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I never really thought of it before I started to visit this message board.
I get ink all over the wood on my wood mounted stamps (usually the first time I use them. If I don't get ink on them when stamping I get the dirty cleaner on the wood and that stains it too....
I never thought that I would ever want to sell my stamps, But I'm finding that I probably won't use some of them again. Such as the stamp I used for Christmas cards.
What does stained wood and rubber do to the re-sale value.
My stamp club has a stamp exchange and I would not want to give grungy stamps even though they still stamp really good.
How do you clean the wood and stamped images to make them "presentable"
again? How do you prevent this from happening in the first place?
How do you price your used stamps?
Thanks in advance!!!
Sorry so long!
Bev
I have the same problem. It is usually cleaning them that gets them dirty. I find it helps to stamp off on scrap paper before cleaning, but still they get dirty. You probably already do that, but I had to be told to do it. :rolleyes:
Also, my sister now has me sealing the wood before I mount my stamps and that helps a bit, too.
Not sure about resale, I wouldn't think it makes a huge difference unless the staining is quite bad.
I learnrd this trick from my demo.......paint the wood with a thick coat of cheap clear fingernail polish. Some peeps use a spray-type varnish b4 mounting the rubber.
At first, I thought this was silly.....after all its JUST a stamp. Well I bought the Loads of Love set w/ accessories so my DS could use it and I got Blooming w/ happiness so my DD could use the dress and the first thing I did was paint them w/ nail polish. I LOVE IT!!!! The ink comes RIGHT off the wood, no problem!! I now paint ALL my new sets before I ever use them!!
HTH!!
__________________ We cannot do great things, only small things with great love.
I just use spray on wood sealer that I bought from Home Depot. I have found that it takes a few coats to be very effective and it still does stain some. I am paranoid about getting it too thick and not having my stamps adhere to the blocks well. Just be sure you only do this to unmounted blocks.
Maybe some more experienced stampers will weigh in on this. I haven't been stamping long.
Some people are really fussy with their stamps and I have found that ink staining does lower the resale value. I have to admit I am one of the fussy ones when it comes to my stamps. Generally I will not buy used stamps if they are stained really bad; however I have gotten some stamps in trade that were badly stained.
I know this sounds nuts, but I will actually remount the stamp onto a new SU wood block if it's stained badly. Most of the time when I receive a stamp set that is badly stained it's also not trimmed or mounted they way I like them to be. So as long as I am taking my stamp apart I will trim off the excess rubber and mount them on the new wood blocks.
I do know you can seal your wood blocks with wood sealer to help prevent staining. I never thought about stamping off the ink before cleaning the stamp- that's a great tip (thanks for sharing that with us)!
After I mount my stamps onto the wood I carefully varnish the wood mount being careful not to get any on the rubber. I use a small artist brush and do two thin coats of varnish. This makes clean up a lot easier.
it could mean that your cleaning pad need to be cleaned. I find that if I haven't cleaned & rinsed my pad out in a while my stamps get dingy.
My stamps look almost new, I have never covered them in anything. I just rotate between 2 cleaning pads to keep them clean & I have another just for versamark (it never seems to get unsticky)
If there are just some stains on the edges, you can try sanding them with a bit of fine sand paper. This works very well, and gets off even black ink edges. It will not work if there are large stains all over the wood though.
I learnrd this trick from my demo.......paint the wood with a thick coat of cheap clear fingernail polish. Some peeps use a spray-type varnish b4 mounting the rubber.
At first, I thought this was silly.....after all its JUST a stamp. Well I bought the Loads of Love set w/ accessories so my DS could use it and I got Blooming w/ happiness so my DD could use the dress and the first thing I did was paint them w/ nail polish. I LOVE IT!!!! The ink comes RIGHT off the wood, no problem!! I now paint ALL my new sets before I ever use them!!
Lots of good advice here, but if you do sell stamps with stains on the wood OR rubber, be sure to mention it in your description, but point out it does not affect the quality of the stamped image.
I have bought and resold sets that were heavily used by demos, although I tend to be pretty fastideous with my new ones. ;-)
It never bothered me until I started reading how it bothered other people and thought maybe I should be more careful cuz I do sell the sets that don't get used. I found that I started to stress about ink staining when my kids use my stamps (actually my girls are really good, it's their friends who aren't!) and then I realized that if they were stained that meant they were being used and loved and that I needed to just chill about it! I do still clean them really well, but I don't stress about it cuz they still stamp just FINE!
I don't worry too much about a bit of staining on my wood blocks. But I have bought some used sets that were stained badly. I used a small brush with bleach and painted the wood around the rubber and let is soak a while the block cleaned up perfectly and the rubber and foam were just fine.
Friends are like the walls of a house. Sometimes they hold you up, sometimes you lean on them. But sometimes, it's enough to know they're just standing by.
I don't worry too much about a bit of staining on my wood blocks. But I have bought some used sets that were stained badly. I used a small brush with bleach and painted the wood around the rubber and let is soak a while the block cleaned up perfectly and the rubber and foam were just fine.
That sounds like a great idea....Thanks for sharing it
I try not to get stains on my stamps but it seems inevitable if someone else is using them from time to time. I have tried the bleach and it works well on some colors, not on others, so I use a good brand of waterbased varnish. It only takes a few minutes to dry and protects the wood finish. I have some older stamps that weren't protected, so I'll try the sandpaper on those. Thanks for the tip!
I am one of the fussy ones when it comes to keeping my stamps clean and looking new. I always varnish new stamp blocks with a clear matt finish polyurethane (cabots), and stamp off onto scrap paper and clean immediately after stamping onto a normal damp kitchen sponge cloth, and an old toothbrush, with a little stamp cleaner. I tend to use 'staz on' cleaner the most .
However you can refinish the blocks. I put them in the microwave for 10 seconds on high, and check to see if the glue has softened under the rubber, if not easy to peel of microwave for a few seconds more and check again, then gently peel off the rubber sand down the block using several grades of sand paper, the remount the stamp, hopefully the glue is still tacky, if not smear a little contact glue on and reposition carefully so the pic on top matches the rubber.
I should have said -the smaller the stamp the less time in microwave, the little ones maybe need only 5 seconds, they can scorch or even catch fire! haven't done that yet tho., and only do them one stamp at a time.
Delta CreamCoat Gloss or Matte Exterior/Interior Varnish. About $2.00 for 4oz. This will do hundreds of blocks, is water and soap clean up. Buy a cheapo paint brush in the craft dept. or use a foam brush. It dries so fast it does not slow you down.
This will hold up to Staz-On cleaner too!
__________________ Karen
...My life is like a stroll on the beach...As near to the edge as I can go...Thoreau...
I am also very fussy about my Stamp sets. I use a matt finish varathane and paint them prior to mounting my SU stamps. Some people say that I am too particular, but the resale value is much higher than stained stamp sets. If I get a stamp set that is really stained, I remove the rubber and sand the stains away and then re varnish. On the badly stained rubber, I have used a cheap toothbrush that is operated with a Battery( ie Crest) Sure glad to hear that there are others that have the same feeling about clean stamp sets.
I can't stand the smell of the clear polish (told to do that about 12 years ago) so I found an acrylic spray..........I use the Matte finish. It's a spray can just smaller than a Lysol can. It's in blue, black and white and it's made by Plaid. I buy it at Michaels. Use your coupon. I lay the blocks in a shallow box or big lid and spray about 3 layers on each side. Usually only spray the ends once or twice. I wait between each layer and then turn the blocks over (after the 3rd spray) and begin again. This seems to help keep the ink off. you won't keep it all of...........Like they say, a clean stamp is an unused stamp. LOL
Here's the can: http://www.createforless.com/Plaid+A...&zmap=14482613
Works for me...........been using it about 8 or 9 years.
Delta CreamCoat Gloss or Matte Exterior/Interior Varnish. About $2.00 for 4oz. This will do hundreds of blocks, is water and soap clean up. Buy a cheapo paint brush in the craft dept. or use a foam brush. It dries so fast it does not slow you down.
This will hold up to Staz-On cleaner too!
Thanks Karen. I have to go there today or tomorrow anyway, so I just put that on my list.
well, as far as the getting them dirty when cleaning them thing goes...
when i am stamping solid images with dye ink i keep an old dish towel (wet and wrung out) in an open gallon zip bag on table and just wipe the ink off the rubber.
when i use perm ink and have to use the ultra cleaner, after it comes out of the scrubber i stamp it off and use an old towel to wipe the excess cleaner and goop off the rubber.
If i buy a stamp and its stained beyond belief. if it really bugs me i take sand paper to the wood.
but the ultra cleaner should get most of the old ink off if you buy one used that is grungy is what i have found. the hard to get out thing is dried acrylic paint.
so, if you do stamp in paint your gonna want to stop what your doing right after you stamp and go wash that paint off the rubber.
(don't soak the stamp in the rubber it will eventually fall off the block)
my new thing i need to know how to fix is i bought a used stamp recently on ebay that arrived smelling like an ashtray. ( I am highly allergic to cig smoke) so, I am thinking to take it off the block and put it on a new one...but not sure how to get the smell out of the rubber? (any thoughts?)
well, as far as the getting them dirty when cleaning them thing goes...
when i am stamping solid images with dye ink i keep an old dish towel (wet and wrung out) in an open gallon zip bag on table and just wipe the ink off the rubber.
when i use perm ink and have to use the ultra cleaner, after it comes out of the scrubber i stamp it off and use an old towel to wipe the excess cleaner and goop off the rubber.
If i buy a stamp and its stained beyond belief. if it really bugs me i take sand paper to the wood.
but the ultra cleaner should get most of the old ink off if you buy one used that is grungy is what i have found. the hard to get out thing is dried acrylic paint.
so, if you do stamp in paint your gonna want to stop what your doing right after you stamp and go wash that paint off the rubber.
(don't soak the stamp in the rubber it will eventually fall off the block)
my new thing i need to know how to fix is i bought a used stamp recently on ebay that arrived smelling like an ashtray. ( I am highly allergic to cig smoke) so, I am thinking to take it off the block and put it on a new one...but not sure how to get the smell out of the rubber? (any thoughts?)
HEY there fellow Oregonian!!
eewww......you wouldnt thing that the rubber would smell......try keeping the stamp in a ziplock bag and then in a SU plastic container and just take it out when you use it and put it back in the containers when done!!
__________________ We cannot do great things, only small things with great love.
I have sold a lot of stamp sets - and have lots of kids that like to help me stamp, so my stamps get a little/lot grungy looking. I find that clean stamps sell much better than stained ones. So....
As mentioned, Ultra Clean will clean off any stain that I have ever had on my stamps - even years' old stains! I have found nothing to beat Ultra Clean.
As for the wood, I just fold up a little piece of sandpaper and sand the wood. I have been able to get 99% of my stains off the wood this way. Sometimes I will nuke the stamp, lift off the rubber, sand, then replace the rubber.
Using the bleach intrigues me. I'll have to try that.
that's the part I'm not sure about because as a whole stamp it smells so bad, do I'm thinking... unmounted and put it on clean foam and wood and make an new index with stazon on an transparency sheet (like what i do to umounted stamps i buy haha) its just its a nicer name brand stamp so i was thinking if you get tired of it and wanted to sell it, then it probably would be worth less home mounted that away...
so i guess this is gonna be a forever keeper and i gotta make it work for me.
Here is a funny/painful story about stained stamps
I went to a stamp convention last week. When I got home I showed 9 yo DD my stamps. She asked could she color them? I said sure thinking she was going to stamp the image than color the image. Instead she decided to color the stamped image on top of the wooden block. Guess what she used - yup permanent ink. Thankfully she only colored one stamp before I realized just what she was doing. She said she was trying to make them look like some of the stamps that I already have that come colored from the factory.
__________________ Pia "I am not old and haggard. I am Shabby Chic."
I didn't read all the posts but I use Krylon Matte Finish spray and give the wood blocks a coat or two before I put them together. It works great even for the over spray from cleaning on a dirty stamp scrub.
__________________ Tina The only thing worse than not being able to see, is having no vision.
I use simply green diluted with water on the rubber and then wipe off with a cloth. I do varnish the wood before mounting. I have sets that I didn't varnish when I first started stamping. When you use the scrubber that is what gets your wood icky.
First of all, I am trying to unmount all of my stamps for storage and I sell un-used blocks (SU) on ebay, they are quite popular.
I have seen a few stamps mounted on a very thin (1/16") acrylic piece, from a store here in so. calif. - red mat. the entire stamp is not even 1/2 thick with the acrylic. I keep forgetting to ask the store owner wher she gets the acrylic. I buy stamps on ebay all the time and most people don't even say if there is staining, or show that part of the stamps in their pictures. I didn't realize that some people are that particular. I had heard that bleach works really good on the wood.
__________________ Ginny , A friend is one of the nicest things you can have, and one of the best things you can be. -Douglas Pagels
I don't worry too much about a bit of staining on my wood blocks. But I have bought some used sets that were stained badly. I used a small brush with bleach and painted the wood around the rubber and let is soak a while the block cleaned up perfectly and the rubber and foam were just fine.
Maybe try some CHEAP "Simple Green" nicer to smell that is for sure...Simple Green with an old toothbrush to get into the lil crevices....I used to get mad at DD for getting ink all over but then she got stressed over stamping with me, SO, I decided WHO CARES...if it's stained and that makes someone NOT want it...so be it, I buy my stamps to use NOT display!:mrgreen:
I hadn't heard anyone else mention this, so I thought I'd put in my 2 cents.
When I got my starter kit, I took all my wood blocks down into our garage (shared garage with 9 other sets of tenants-blech), and sprayed it with a sealer (bought from Lowe's)....and I did 2 or 3 light coats....all the time wondering/worrying whether or not I had enough sealer to "do the job". I think I've seen some slight staining, so maybe I hadn't put enough sealer on?
But overall it's been a hassle to do that.....I haven't done it since, especially when I saw Trisha Lim's idea about how to protect your wood blocks. In step 5, she places clear packing tape over the wood blocks.
I've found that with my schedule, it's easier to do this. I can mount one block at a time (instead of trying to seal all the wood blocks at once), I can do it late at night, I don't worry about the smells & fumes from the sealer spray....
But since I haven't heard anyone else doing this....can you ladies think of reasons why this might not be a good idea? Here's some of my thoughts:
perhaps, some people won't like the "feel" of the packing tape compared to the "feel" of the wood block. I am okay with it, and nobody's mentioned they've even noticed it yet in my classes or workshops I haven't pointed it out, either.
sometimes the larger wood blocks require 2 strips of packing tape, which means there's a slight overlap that can also be felt by the fingers. For me, I have to pay attention to remember this, but yeah, I'm not too crazy about feeling that little extra "ridge".
the sides are exposed, which means that if someone really wanted to get ink on the sides of the block, that could happen
supposing that I wanted to remove the packing tape, (dunno whether the packing tape will help or reduce resale value - what do you ladies think????) i think I could probably remove the packing tape with enough effort. however, the packing tape does stick to the index label, making it difficult to separate the index label from the packing tape. That part might be tricky.
Stain on wood mounted stamps shouldn't hurt at all. The thing I like best is that rubber stamps stamp better and better as they are used more. A friend has some 30 years old and they stamp the best yet. It is the image produced, not the ink on the wood that makes you look like a seasoned artist.
My take on the whole thing... although such great ideas... is that a WELL LOVED STAMP that has been used a lot shows the wear... It is even more appealing to me! It means that they are "Versatile" and You can do a lot with them... Rather than those that you buy on a whim and then never use them! I have several like that too....
I like the "protect the wood before you mount them though!" might start thinking about doing that!
__________________ **Trying to spread a little Pixie Dust everywhere I go!* * myblog!
It never bothered me until I started reading how it bothered other people and thought maybe I should be more careful cuz I do sell the sets that don't get used. I found that I started to stress about ink staining when my kids use my stamps (actually my girls are really good, it's their friends who aren't!) and then I realized that if they were stained that meant they were being used and loved and that I needed to just chill about it! I do still clean them really well, but I don't stress about it cuz they still stamp just FINE!
I agree My nephews love to color and stamp and everything else in between. I have a wooden trunk where I keep all their toys/blocks/stamps etc. etc. When I look at their very STAINED stamps, it makes me smile.
I try to keep my blocks looking nice, but the occasional "oopsies" do occur. It doesn't bother me much--after all, I bought them to use them!!
When buying on eBay, again, minimal staining is not a factor to me--in fact, I can usually score a better deal for buying sets the others don't want because of the "love" they got =)
My darling granddaughter and grandson love stamping. Sometimes they hit the stamp pad too quickly and get ink on the edge of the wood. I'm going to coat my wood before mounting. Thanks for all the ideas.
Stained Stamps
Stained Stamp Sets
