Cleaning Rubber Stamps

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! 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

Here is what you are looking for.
HTH, M-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