I have just decided to try using rubber stamos on some of my scrabook pages.
I bought some alphabet stamps and ink pads, but before I actually OPEN
anything, I haev a couple of questions.
1. What's the difference between ink and pigment? There seem to be both
kinds of pads.
2. Shouldn't I clean the stamp between each color and how do I do that? When
I worked, we used hot coffee on the office stamps but I think these need to
be bit cleaner! LOL
Thank you!
Hugs,
Rach
Hi Rach!
I thought we had a FAQ answer for the ink/pigment question on the home
page but couldn't find it. I'll let someone else answer that because I
know they can do it better justice than I.
Regarding cleaning...I like to use hand wipes. I have them readily on
hand. Sometimes for every detailed stamps I have to use a toothbrush.
You use the wipe to get the stamp real "soapy", then use the old
toothbrush to get into the corners & cracks.
This only works while your ink is fairly new on the pad. In other
words, this won't clean the stamps you used yesterday.
I try not to submerge stamps but I have run them under water. Because
most stamps are glued to a hard surface such as a wood or plastic
block, submerging could damage the seal. Even when I run them under
water, I try to keep the water only on the rubber stamp piece.
Hope this helps!
-- Amy L.
I also use wet wipes. I hadn't heard of tooth brush before. I've only used
some of mine a few times. Thanks for the idea on the tooth brush. I'll
have to keep one in my scraproom. Maybe I can steel my husbands. LOL.
I'm am also starting to rubber stamp more, and I did a search and found
this helpful information on Inks!
Dye-based inks are water-based and washable and are permanent once they
are stamped on papers. Use them on all types of papers. Dye-based inks
stamp well, dry quickly and will dry on coated papers. Dye-base inks
will fade with time, they are harder to use for embossing because they
dry so fast, and they tend to bleed and fuzz on very absorbent papers.
Dye-based inks Stamp Well, dries quick, and will dry on coated papers.
Dye-based inks will fade with time, are not great for embossing because
it dries so fast and
usually will bleed and fuzz on absorbent papers.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Pigment Ink is different from normal dye-based inks. They are thicker,
richer and fade resistant. The pigment inks are very bright and vivid
and work great on matte papers, or embossed on any paper. These inks
will not fade when embossed.
Pigment Ink will resists fading, has a slow drying time makes it great
for embossing, and come in very vibrant colors.
When stamping on coated paper using Pigment Ink you will have to
emboss. Because it is slow drying time inks will smudge while wet.
Here is the site I got it from!
formatting link
as for cleaning...When I have cleaned mine, (remember I am a beginner too,and I dont have all the "stuff" yet..), I cleaned them on a soaked paper towel, that I had folded up in a shallow plastic divided container, and in the other side of the container I folded up a dry paper towel to dry them off. Cheap way to go, but it worked for me! And i have used a tooth brush for cleaning the more detailed stamps. I know there are special cleaners you can buy too, but I dont know too much about those yet.
Hope this helped ya out! :-)
Linda C
Yes, you do want to clean the stamp between colors. Otherwise, as a doctor
would say, you cross-contaminate your ink pads. You can find stamp cleaner
at Wal Mart, HL, Michaels, etc. I highly reccommend finding a cleaning pad
designed for cleaning stamps, too. The more you take care of your stamps,
the longer they will last. Just make sure whatever cleaner you use doesn't
contain alchohol as it can dry out the rubber and make your stamps crack.
Stampin' Up! carries a cleaner and cleaning pad I just absolutely love. And
no, I'm not just saying that because I'm a Demonstrator. :-) The cleaner
is rose-scented and comes in a spray bottle. I've also heard of a cleaner
called "Awesome Cleaner" that some dollar store carries. It's supposed to
clean stains off of stained stamps real good. You just have to wipe your
stamp off with a damp cloth or paper towel after you clean it with Awesome.
It's one of those cleaners you don't want to use all the time, instead just
use it on your really badly stained stamps. I've used baby wipes to clean
my stamps off. Just make sure the wipes don't have alchohol.
Yes you should clean the stamps at least occasionally... I don't clean
mine a lot but when I do want to make sure that my colours come out
pure I put water onto a wad of paper towel. Then I sit the stamp on
the towel for a few minutes, and then I start stamping on that wet
towel so that the water can get up into the cracks of the image, and
help pull the ink off... when it doesn't stamp colour any more I know
it's clean enough. If there's a lot of ink in the crannies of the
image and I want to get it off I make a bit of paper towel really wet
and gently rub it on the stamp to remove the ink.
Thank you all for your responses! I'm sorry I was so late getting back to
you. Real life you know. I am going to keep your tips in my scrapping tip
notebook.
As soon as I do some stamping, I'll post the results.
Thank you again!
Hugs,
Rach
Therea a newsgroup for rubberstampers: rec.crafts.rubberstamps
It is similar to rec.crafts.scrapbooks, but a little less chatty. :-)
There are commercial cleaners (both spray and dab-on), cleaning pads,
home methods (like baby wipes), etc. But you *do* want to clean those
stamps before the ink dries. Just don't leave 'em wet.
Dye-based inks soak into the paper, and sometimes are not color-fast
(though for projects with a limited lifespan, like cards, they are
fine). The pigment inks stay more on the surface, and are good for
embossing techniques. On some papers you might have to use a heat gun to
completely set a pigment ink, or emboss it with a clear powder. It pays
to experiment before diving into your real project.
I prefer to use pigment inks in my card-making. I like the strong color
effect.
Gina
InspirePoint website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here.
All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.