History of Stamps wood to acrylic-photopolymer (edited)

I won't buy acrylic stamps but I love and buy photopolymer. SU stamps are photopolymer not acrylic, I believe.

I love stamps, of all kinds.

But I'm a wierdo - I like wood mounted rubber stamps best because they look so pretty lined up on a shelf.

I am still a fan of red rubber. Best of both worlds? Cling-mounted red rubber with the image on the cling so you can line it up exactly! Acrylic/ photopolymer? I will buy these if I love the image, but they will never impress as well.

That does look good. But when you have several(no I won't say exactly how many) hundred stamps that is a lot of shelving.

Haha, I know.

But in my dream scraproom, I would have room for all those shelves on the wall, and be able to keep all my favorite, most used stamps on a special shelf closest to my reach.

I LOVE stamps!

My absolute favourite is red rubber. I prefer the unmounted red rubber the best, but they are harder to find. Just a slab of rubber with the images so I can save the most money and store them the most efficient way is what I crave. I learned to love these from being a member of Club Scrap for years-they always have sheets of red rubber images for sale each month with their kits.

My second favourites are the wood mounted red rubber stamps. Yes, they take up room, but they are like art to me in my scrapbook room. I do have shelves where I display them although I'm rapidly running out of room.

My least favourite is photopolymer-I still like them, but they are 3rd on my list. I don't have as many of these. I don't have any acrylic stamps and try not to buy any (I keep a list in my journal of the companies that make acrylic stamps so I don't get confused).

I guess you could say I'm a red rubber snob. I love the way they smell too!

Debbie in MD.

I fell for the "acrylic" stamps from SU.  Was highly disappointed when I got unmounted rubber meant to go on clear blocks.  I won't order stamps from SU again.

I'm a CTMH hobbyist demo so am used to true polymer clear stamps.   When I first started with them in 2001 we were wood mounted, but within 2-3 years had made the switch to the polymer.  I *love* them.  I have stamps from CTMH dating 10-11 years that still look and feel like new.

I have SU stamps AND ink from probably around 1990 or 1991. I'm still getting my money out of those ink pads. LOL! Sometime around 2008 or so, I went on an un-mounted binge and unmounted most of my rubber stamps, put cling backing on them and store them in CD cases. I did this partly because I thought un-mounted stamps were the next best thing. And I needed the storage space. I wish I hadn't. I think the image is crisper, using a wood mounted rubber stamp.

An even better savings as far as red rubber stamps go is to look for something called "unmounted rubber stamps". These are sheets of rubber that come in different sizes 4x6, 5x7, 81/2 x11-it varies by company. Basically it's a sheet of just the rubber images. I much prefer these because of the cost savings and the storage savings, and I got accosted to them because that is the way Club Scrap sells their stamps, and I've been a member for years.

Anyway, lots of companies sell these, you just have to google. So you get a whole set of images in one sheet. What I do is coat a clean pizza box with a solution of Aleene's Tack it Over and Over and Water-1 to 1. I mix it up that way because otherwise it's too sticky. I coat the bottom of the pizza box and let it dry. Then I cut out the images on the rubber sheet of stamps with a set of clean, sharp scissors. Once they are all cut out I lay them face down (image side down) onto the sticky coated bottom-it's dry now so it's just a little tacky. This keeps them from moving all around while I'm trying to glue them.

Next I take a throw away foam brush, dip it into the 1:1 mixture of water and Aleene's Tack it over and over and "paint" the back of the stamps with the glue mixture. I then close the box, and go on to the next set-keeps the cat hair off of them if one of my cats makes it down to my scraproom where they are not allowed to be.

I let them dry overnight although you don't have to. To stamp I just slap it onto an acrylic block and make sure to put a magazine underneath my stamping cardstock for a little "give" and it works great! No need for foam at all!

Storing is even easier and more compact. I keep the index sheet that came with the stamps. I like to put my now sticky stamps on some sort of acetate, but the best and cheapest I've found is a product called "Grafix Dura-lar" the acetate alternative. I buy it in the .005 thickness and in the pack of 81/2 x11 sheets, and clear. Unfortunately this size 81/2 x11 only comes in a pack of 100 sheets but I've found I've gone through it quickly and it's really not that expensive because it is the perfect product. I buy it at http://www.dickblick.com.  I then slide that sheet into a sheet protector from an Office store and because you've now made a sandwich where nothing can slide out you can use a regular 3 ring binder or the wonderful Unikeep binders that lock all the way around-although they cost a bit more. I slide the "index sheet" that has all of the images of the stamps in front of the sheet protector.

Because the foam has been completely eliminated storage is much less bulky.

Debbie in MD.

I bought one set of foam alphas by Heidi Swapp back in the day. I always made the biggest mess using them w/ paints. I don't miss them at all.

Yes! I LOLed at this.  I threw out my foam stamps a long time ago. Who ever thought those were a good idea!? I think I had multiple sets!