Should I use it???

I have always heard that alcohol damages the rubber.

~Donna~ SAHM Val Gal 16, Wendy Woo 14, Seany 10 6 years of Stamping Bliss

you can use alcohol but you must clean it off just as you would bleach when bleach stamping..... not much difference between the two as far as rubber damage goes.

I use alcohol all the time to clean ink off my stamps... and follow up with a huggies baby wipe..... for 6 yrs now I have had zero problems with my rubber stamps.

Hm. Not sure what the alcohol would do that the baby wipe alone won't. But keep in mind I'm in the "I don't care if my stamps look messy as long as they stamp" camp. (-:

-- Pat Kight snipped-for-privacy@peak.org

hehe. i keep mine freakishly clean. if the wood gets dirty..i get all freaked out.

i use baby wipes..i don't care what kind as long as they are cheap. and they work great. i haven't seen any deterioriation of my stamps. i don't see why alcohol would be terrible.

I was at a stamp convention a couple of weeks ago and i was talking to one of the demonstrators. one lady was all condemming him for using baby wipes to clean off their stamps. and he said "lady...this rubber is made the same way tires are made. tires go through ALOT of crap". granted our stamps aren't the same as a tire...but i can see his point. he said the manufacturing process is simliar. has anyone else heard this?

-Jen

and he said "lady...this rubber is made the same way tires are made. tires go through ALOT of crap". granted our stamps aren't the same as a tire...but i can see his point. he said the manufacturing process is simliar. has anyone else heard this? He is exactly correct. In fact a lot of companies use to use goodyear rubber for their stamps. Stamps are vulcanized in an oven of at least 325 degrees and made with tons of pressure (from 4000 lbs upward) If you clean your stamps between use, you will have them to pass down from generation to generation, however it is more important to store them properly..out of sunlight! Sun is the worse enemy of your stamps. They will dry up and crack! Are my stamps clean? No way! Denyse

*smile* different strokes. I consider my stamps to be art supplies, and they get just as messy as the rest of my art supplies. You should see the handles of my paint brushes. (-;

It dries the rubber, or so the lore goes.

Well, yes, both rubber stamps and rubber tires are vulcanized (a heat-based curing process). The difference is that with tires, a nick here or there, or a slightly crumbling edge doesn't matter, whereas with stamps, it can ruin the whole image.

Stamps aren't especially delicate, but rubber is prone to deterioration if it gets dry - it gets hard and crumbly. So do tires, which is why we have to replace them every few years.

huggies baby wipes are the best..... alcohol free i believe but even if not... after 6 yrs and no damage what so ever i have to believe its safe :) LOL

I'm cheap; I use generic store-brand baby wipes (also alcohol free) and buy the refill packages at Costco (even cheaper). The only stamps I've had problems with were a couple that seem to have been stored in a sunny spot by the vendor before I bought them; they went hard and brittle within a few years of use.

-- Pat Kight snipped-for-privacy@peak.org

It's absolutely true! I had someone say to me once (she teached stamping stuff and uses her stamps a LOT) "oh, these stamps have made well over 1000 impressions, I'm going to have the company I demo for replace them soon..." and I about laughed at her. I said, "those are the same rubber as tires, and they're meant to go 60,000 miles. That rubber is the same as the day you started using it, just dirty." Our rubber should be fine for as long as we're alive! Baby wipes are fine, as is alcohol, as long as it gets cleaned off after.

:o) Robin .............................. Ma Vinci's Reliquary

accepting MasterCard and Visa!

I used to use the Huggies (they were definitely the best for the babies!) for my stamps, but I bought the Costco 'Kirkland' brand (because they're CHEAP) and found that they left less lint on my stamps afterwards. One of those things you don't really notice until it isn't there. I'm middle of the road on the stamp cleaning issue. I wipe them off as soon as I'm done using it, but if ALL the ink doesn't come off, I can still sleep that night.

Sandi

I use cheap brands too.....definately in refill packs! LOL but i find they dry out too quick i can use a huggies and it stays wet sitting out alot longer than most.....and sometimes they leave lint i hate that part but i usually can just give em a wipe across something else after i get the ink off too get the lint off...

different strokes I guess LOL

my only point was that bleach and alcohol both can be hazardous to rubber... but so long as you wash it off after use you should be ok .... what ever you use to clean them is certainly a personal preference and doesnt really matter..

and pat you are so right about sun light...... nothing can ruin your stamps faster than sunlight!!

Deborah