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Hi,
Does any one have any tips on trimming stamp sets? How do you get close when there are indents and angles? Does anyone have pictures of mounted stamp sets mount side up? Thanks for you tips!
I trim very close and have never ruined a stamp. I cut into little corners and grooves. I only make straight cuts, not curved ones, and am careful not to undercut my stamps (at an angle like / so that there isn't enough foam under the rubber piece).
I usually cut as close as I can with the scissors then mount . Then I get out my exacto knife and get what I could'nt get with the scissors. And very carefully I might add.
and don't forget to clean the scissors (with something like goofoff) when they get sticky (I ususally clean mine after mounting one or two full stamp sets).
I used to hate mounting my stamps (not that I love it now or anything) till I got the scissors from SU! (those are the Kai scissors, btw)....the scissors made all the difference in the world to me. I'll add that I'm not a demo, so I feel no compunction to only use SU! products, I get stuff from all over and truly feel they are the best.
When I mount, I make lots of close straight cuts...if I have something round, it's like I cut the corner off, turn the stamp, cut the next corner, etc and then what's left will be short little triangular tips that a straight cut will then take right off.
When I have to get into a tight area, I'll cut in from one side at an angle (see Cut #1) and then cut in from the other side at an angle (see Cut #2) so that when I finish cutting, it removes a triangular piece of rubber. I couldn't figure out a good way to explain this, so I am attaching a pic.
Thanks for all hte tips! I've beena demo for almost a year (I only started using SU in Dec. 03). I have the scissors, but sometimes I have a hard time getting into the tight spaces. Sometimes they just look sloppy. :oops: I've never cut into the image or ruined a stamp, I just wish they would look better sometimes.
Kai scissors are available in the SU catalog as someone else mentioned...see above...although I've had mine for quite some time now and didn't get them from SU. I only use them for trimming rubber so I don't worry about sticky stuff so much...I have some really wonderful cutterbee scissors, which are teflon coated and I use them for everything else except rubber....I think that EK Success makes Cutterbee...
__________________ Jo
# 25454 "If you know how many stamps you have, you don't have enough."
I make those angle cuts like that picture showed. One big reason why they say to make straight cuts and not curved cuts is that so you don't undercut the cushion of the stamp. If the cushion under the stamp is smaller than the rubber, it will wobble when you stamp it and you won't get a good impression. When I was a total newbie, someone else mounted some of my stamps and I ended up with some very undercut cushions. Stems of flowers are maybe the hardest stamps to mount, in my opinion. I just pulled the rubber off the cushion and stuck it to the wood. These stamps stamp fine (I have just a few), but obviously having cushion is better.
As for the scissors, I use SU's and they're the best. I also have a pair Honeybees (like Cutterbees from EKSuccess, but non-stick). If I have a tiny space I'm trying to cut into and my SU scissors just seem a little big, I use my Honeybees and they work great. I also use them for trimming my labels that go on my wood blocks. At first, I never trimmed those, and I had the plastic hanging over, coming unstuck from the sides, etc. Now I try to trim them so that all the label fits on the top and doesn't have to wrap around.
I also perform surgery on some stamps - like the snowman with the bird on his head in "It's Snow Time". I carefully cut the bird off the top of his head so I could stamp just the bird - you can see in the Gallery how many creative people have used the stampamajig to put birds on top of each other to put a star on the Christmas tree. So I try to separate things when possible - like in Toucan of My Love - I separated the sentiment from the Kangaroo/Toucan/Fish. I might want to use those images for something other than V's Day. When cutting a portion of a stamp off that's really close to another part, I use my honeybees. I haven't nicked an image yet. <knock wood>
Also, if you mess up and DO undercut the cushion, you can take a piece of scrap rubber (if it's bigger than your stamp), pull the stamp off the cushion, pull the rubber off the scrap, and stick the stamp on the new cushion and trim. Does that make sense?
When stamping a long skinny stamp, like a stem or one of the long skinny sentiment stamps, look carefully at your stamp after inking. If there is ink on the rubber around the stamp, just wipe it off carefully with your finger.
After I've made all of my straight cuts, I then go back and just trim off the corners of the rubber--not the foam-- at an angle so there's no chance of any stray marks from the points.
I speak the truth not so much as I would, but as much as I dare, .......and I dare a little more as I grow older. -Michel de Montaigne, essayist (1533-1592)
These are all great tips, but I have one more to add -- DO NOT trim your rubber to any less than 1/2" across when cutting around small or skinny images or words! If you do, your stamps will rock from side to side whenever you apply pressure and you might get inky wood or blurred images on the paper. This is especially true for long, skinny phrase stamps like Wonderful Words or Simple Sayings II.
__________________ Rachel Proud SU! demo and Sci-Fi Geek!
My Stampin' Up! blog "I'm a time traveler -- I point and laugh at archaeologists." 10th Doctor, "Silence in the Library"
The cutting tips everyone has mentioned are great. I'd like to add a couple about the actual mounting of your stamps. My upline suggested mounting them with the bottom of the image flush to the bottom of your wood block, not centered on the block as you might think to do. This technique allows you to better line up your images b/c you can actually see where the bottom of the stamp is and you don't have to guess. I had a few sets mounted the other way and once I did this, it was much easier to see where the image was going to end up on your paper. It is especially good with words or phrases, which always seem to be the hardest to line up. The only difference is how you apply pressure when stamping. You just have to be careful not to rock the stamp upwards, since most of the weight of the stamp is at the bottom. Hope that makes sense. Oh, and I agree with everyone else who says to split stamps wherever possible, such as a stamp that has both an image and a phrase on it. I separate them and mount the phrase on the side of the block, so I can get two different looks from one stamp. Good luck!
Ronda
P.S. As for the scissors, definitely invest in the good SU ones, or the comparable ones from other companies. You'll save yourself many blisters!
Hi! i learned from my demonstrator after i trim my stamps i use my dremel and go around them to smooth the edges they look like the ones you see in micheals or hobby lobby it takes practice i had several go zinging across the room so my husband made me a dremel stand so its a lot less messier and easier! i wouldnt even think of mounting a set with out dremeling it first! Thank you cinda!
lori
ps It is very messy but worth it!
I have 2 small pair of Mundial scissors that I just love. They were part of a 4 piece set (Varying sizes)that I bought about 30 years ago and they still work like I bought them yesterday.
I made up a little instruction sheet for my customers back when we had that alphabet promotion because I didn't want anyone to ruin a good set of stamps! I'll attach it if I can locate it.
Found it! It may take a minute or so for it to download, so be patient after you click and get a blank page, okay? I put a couple of little diagrams and photos in the document. Feel free to use it or to use what you can and change the rest--whatever helps you. :-D
You're welcome! It's frustrating to have to try to FIX a mounting mistake--especially if it is a cutting mistake rather than a simple positioning mistake.
trimming stamp sets...
