Using Unmounted Stamps

Ah, the ever expanding world of rubber stamps. It used to be that you could go pick out your stamps and they would come on a wooden block all ready for use. Wood-mounted stamps are not the only breed on the market now, though. Stamps of the unmounted kind are being produced for scrapbookers and stampers alike by companies such as Chatterbox, Ma Vinci, Stamped In Ink and FontWerks to name a few.

Mount
It takes a little bit of time and elbow grease to make unmounted stamps ready to use on your layouts. However, once you get them mounted, the hard part is over and the creating can begin! I’ve found it best to mount new stamps right when I buy them. Otherwise, they may sit in my scrap area unused and neglected. I like to get in a daily dose of reality TV while I cut out stamps—multi-tasking is a fabulous thing!

Here is the process I use to mount my stamps. I find this to be the easiest and quickest way to prepare for stamping.

1. Pick out a set of unmounted stamps. They usually come in a sheet of plain rubber.
2. Decide on a mounting system that you like. I always use EZMount. It’s a sheet of foam that is ultra sticky on one side (to stick to the rubber) and smooth on the other side to stick to your acrylic block. It’s like magic!
3. Peel the backing off the sticky side of your EZ Mount foam and stick the rubber sheet on top of it with the image side up.
4. Cut off any extra foam around the stamp sheet. I use Kai scissors, which are sharp and are the best way to cut through foam and rubber at the same time.
5. Peel the backing off the smooth side of foam.
6. Use straight, vertical cuts to carefully trim around the image. Cut through both the foam and the rubber. HINT: Be sure to cut completely around the image. Tearing the rubber can ruin the image.
7. Once they’re cut, put them away!

Stamp
When you use unmounted stamps, simply put the image you want to stamp onto an acrylic block. If you use EZ Mount it will cling to the acrylic block on its own. If you don’t use the EZMount system, try double-sided tape, Velcro or a magnet system to attach the stamps to the block. Ink the stamp with the desired color and stamp! It’s literally that easy.

Clean
To clean your stamps, you can buy a cleaner at a craft or stamp store, or you can use a household bottle of window cleaner. A bit of window cleaner and a baby wipe or strong paper towel will do the trick.

See, that wasn’t so hard! Now you can venture out into the world of unmounted stamp designs with confidence.

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