After the long hours I've been putting in at work I thought I deserved to treat myself to some new rubber stamps. I got this 8x10 unmounted sheet of miscellaneous doodles from Traci Bonkers Originals.
I've mounted individual rubber stamps before, but this is the first time I've attempted to do a whole sheet. I'm mounting them to EZ Mount foam cushion, which is a 1/8" thick piece of foam that is sticky on one side and smooth on the other. Once you've stuck the cushion to your rubber stamp the smooth side will stick to an acrylic block by static cling. It can then be "stuck" and "unstuck" many times to a single block, saving you the trouble of cutting individual pieces of wood for the stamps. In some ways it's not as convenient as a traditional stamp because your stamp isn't instantly ready to go, but it certainly saves money!
I had previously bought a pair of Kai scissors specifically for this task and I'm using them here. I've heard people say any strong pair of scissors will do the trick, but since I'm not sure what I'm doing I thought it would be nice to begin with the appropriate tool. One of the axioms you hear from carpenters or mechanics is "the proper tool for the proper job."
This photo shows the first few stamps I've cut away from the sheet. It's pretty tricky to get a smooth cut around the stamp and the foam cushion leaves a lot of sticky residue to the scissors, so I think I'll have to keep cleaning them if I want clean stamps. I tested 3 of the stamps and I'm really happy with the impressions I got! I've still got a lot of work "cut out" for me, though. I have a another smaller sheet of rubber that is an alphabet, something I've been wanting for a while, and the letters are much closer together than these doodles are. Patience will be required!
No comments:
Post a Comment