hints and tips

Getting Started

Find yourself a solid table or workspace to work on and lay a few sheets of scrap paper underneath the paper/card you are going to be stamping onto to give it a bit of padding.

I find to ensure the best ink coverage, turn the stamp rubber side up and place on your work surface and gently dab the ink pad a couple of times from above to ink up the stamp.  This way you can tell easily whether you have missed inking any parts of the design before you stamp your image.  Take care not to apply too much ink as this can 'flood' the design and give splodgy results.

When stamping, apply firm, even pressure whilst pressing straight down, taking care not to rock or move the stamp as this can create a smudged result. For larger stamps, press down and hold with one hand and then use the fingers from the other hand to apply pressure in stages over the wooden mount to ensure all parts of the design make contact with the paper/card etc.

Lift up the stamp and admire the freshly stamped image!

Ink Pads

For the Hand Carved and Photopolymer stamps, these produce the best results with good quality pigment and water based inks (such as the VersaColor pads stocked in my shop) but dye based inks tend to 'bead' up on the rubber and produce a poor image. It is also advised to avoid solvent based inks such as Stazon as these and their specialist cleaners can potentially perish the rubber.

For the Artisan Grey rubber stamps, any ink pads for rubber stamps are suitable for use with these, even the solvent based inks.

 

Cleaning Your Stamps

All stamps are easy to clean with either alcohol free baby wipes, liquid soap and water or non-solvent stamp cleaning fluids. Please dab gently as if they are still rubber and can potentially wear away if rubbed hard, especially on finer detailed areas.  

Please also note that some of the Hand Carved Rubber Stamps you receive may have some ink residue; this is from the testing the image quality whilst carving but I will clean them thoroughly as I can anyway. Some ink pads can stain the rubber I use but as long as the stamp is nice and clean any staining will not affect your stamping.

Any queries?

Please don't hesitate to get in touch via the 'contact us' form.