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Mounting
Your Own Stamps
by Candace Cedotal
(AKA Redstick of Enchanted Ink )
Everything you need to know to mount your own stamps and save a few $$$
Components
of a Typical Stamp
Rubber Die
Unmounted rubber can be purchased from many vendors, most often
by mailorder. They will often offer their stamp images either
as a fully mounted stamp or just the rubber die (unmounted). Some
vendors trim the unmounted rubber image before hand and some even
attach and trim appropriate cushion as well. But most often ummounted
rubber is just cut from a larger sheet of rubber and comes to
you with excess rubber surrounding the image, making it neccessary
for you to trim the rubber yourself. How to do this successfully
will be discussed later on in this tutorial.
Unmounted rubber can also be purchased in Grab Bag form from many
vendors and this is an excellent way to quickly build a rubber
stamp collection, since the cost of the individual dies is often
reduced considerably in price when purchased in a grab bag. The
down side to grab bags is that they often contain some images
which you do not like. This isn't neccessarily a bad thing, as
you can either trade these images with other stampers or use them
to practice your trimming and mounting skills.
Cushion
Cushion can come in many forms and thicknesses (typically 1/8",
3/16" and 1/4") , can be red, grey, or black and can
be purchased from several sources, though it is not as easily
found as rubber. It is constructed of varying densities of foam
rubber. Usually it is sold in sheets, often 8 1/2 X 11, though
larger sizes are often available. It is available with or without
adhesive on one side or both. If you do not purchase self sticking
cushion, rubber cement makes an excellent adhesive. I've experimented
with several different materials and have found that commercial
cushion seems to be your best bet. In a pinch, the thin layers
of foam sold in craft stores as Fun Foam can be layered together
with rubber cement and make a passable cushion, but after time
this foam becomes permanently depressed and is no longer cushiony.
Dr. Scholl's shoe cushion can also be employed in an emergency,
but again, this is only a temporary measure.
Mounts
Mounts can be made out of several things, though the most common
is wood. Wood mounts are available from many vendors and usually
sold in strips of various widths or precut to standard sizes.
Wood mounts are also available in various heights, with or without
two grooves running along parallel sides. These grooves allow
your fingers to more firmly grasp the mount while you are stamping.The
type of wood mount you use is mostly a matter of personal preference,
but it is advisable to stay with hardwoods that have been well
cured. Wood can also be purchased at local lumber supply outlets
that is suitable for cutting into mounts and you can often pick
up scrap at quite a discount.
Other materials that are often used as mounts are as varied as
the stamper. Acrylic blocks, wooden doweling, jar lids, heavy
foam blocks can all be used with varying levels of success. Actually,
any flat hard surfaced object that allows you to grip it firmly
and is abit bigger in all dimensions than your rubber die can
be used. In a pinch, I've even temporarily mounted stamps on the
bottom of a salt shaker!
Getting
Down to IT
Trimming the Unmounted Die
Now let's assume that you have your unmounteds in hand and are
ready to begin turning them into stamps you can use. Most unmounted
come to you looking similar to the ones below.
As you can see there is a good deal of excess rubber around the
raised images. It is neccessary for proper impressions to get
rid of this excess rubber. Special rubber and cushion trimming
scissors are available on the market and though these command
a premiun price, they are well worth the cost in the long run
if you intend to do alot of your own mounting. A good pair of
sharp scissors is an essential tool for trimming your rubber properly
and any good pair will do, but the comfort and ease with which
the special scissors trim rubber, makes it a breeze.
The idea in trimming unmounted rubber dies is to get as close
to the raised images as possible, without cutting into it. Extra
pieces of excess rubber have a tendancy to pick up ink and make
an unwanted impression right where it's least appreciated. The
following illustration shows how one of these dies can be trimmed,
close but not too close to the raised image. You will notice that
the line extends around the stars in the upper left corner. These
are actually a separate image from the main one, but in order
to maintain the two together, it is desirable to trim as closely
around the group of stars as you can.
If you look closely, you will see a fairly small area of open
background rubber between Mickey's face and his wand, marked with
blue in the following illustration.
Open areas like this can be a pain when mounting rubber dies.
If the area is too big, it will pick up excess ink when you stamp
with it, but if it is not big enough to easily trim out, or if
there is not a supporting area of rubber around it, it can make
even a saint lose his patience. In this particular image, I would
probably leave the interior excess alone and just be careful of
it when I ink the stamp. With larger areas you can trim them out,
but leave the underlying cushion intact, giving a better base
of cushion for stability. Again, with any open areas in the interior
of a stamp image, careful inking is essential.
Under
and Over Cutting
This is probably the most common mistake beginning mounters make
when trimming rubber dies and cushion. Illustration 2 provides
a picture of this.
Undercutting is when the rubber or cushion is cut at a slant where
the slant is protruding up under the image. This can often result
in poor impressions of the rubber image, as the raised area of
the image has insufficient support to transfer the ink properly
to the paper.
Overcutting is when the rubber or cushion is cut at a slant where
the slant is protruding out, allowing extra surface of the die
or cushion to be exposed. This extra surface has a tendency to
pick up ink and transfer it when the image is impressed onto the
paper.
Properly trimmed dies and cushion should have the edges cut straight,
as in Illustration 2a. This will result in the very best results
and impression from your stamping.
Though it is not always easily accomplished, if you try to hold
your scissors perpendicular to the rubber and cushion when you
are cutting, a fairly straight cut can be made. Practice in this
over time will turn even the most awkward hands into skillful
ones.
Working
With Cushion
There are two approaches to working with cushion. One is to mount
your trimmed rubber on the cushion and then trim the cushion,
and the other is to trim both cushion and rubber at the same time.
Unless you have an extremely good pair of scissors and a strong
hand, I recommend applying the already trimmed rubber die to the
cushion and then trimming the cushion. I like to work with fairly
large sheets of cushion and mount my stamps in a production line
kind of way. By laying several stamps on the cushion sheet at
one time, you can arrange them so that they fit fairly close together,
thereby conserving the amount of wasted cushion. Of course, this
is assuming that you have several unmounted stamps that you want
to mount all at the same time. The trick here is to arrange them
on the cushion closely enough to not have a great deal of wasted
cushion, but far enough apart that you can easily cut between
the stamps.
Step
by Step
Now we've trimmed our rubber and are ready to mount it to the
cushion. If you are using self adhesive cushion, all you need
to do is pull back the protective sheet and press your trimmed
rubber dies firmly onto it in place. When cutting self adhesive
cushion, the sticky stuff has a bad tendency to gunk up your scissors.
One way to avoid this is to spray your scissors with a little
WD-40 before you trim the sticky cushion. Another way is to cut
off the section of cushion with rubber dies already mounted and
lightly dust the exposed sticky part of the cushion with baby
powder before you trim the cushion away from the rubber. If a
little gets on the stamps, don't worry. You can always rinse them
off with plain water afterwards.
If you are using plain cushion, you will need to use some type
of adhesive to afix the dies to the cushion. Rubber cement is
excellent for this, but there is a special way in which you use
it to make the very best bond. Turn your trimmed rubber dies face
down and give them a light coating with rubber cement on the back.
Be sure to cover the entire surface of the rubber, but do not
apply the cement so liberally that it runs down the sides. Then
set these aside while you coat one side of the cushion with rubber
cement. The trick here is to wait until the rubber cement has
set abit before you put the two together.
The cement will start to get abit cloudy and dull as it dries
and you can test one small area with your fingertip. The cement
should still be tacky, but not wet. When it has reached this point,
simply place the rubber dies, cement side down atop the cushion,
which is cement side up. When you have postitioned them where
you want them press down firmly to make a good seal. You should
end up with something like the following illustration.
Don't worry if the edges of your cushion curl up abit. This will
be taken care of when you trim away the cushion which is the next
step. Usuing your scissors, cut carefully around the rubber die,
trimming away the excess cushion. It is not always neccessary
to trim every bit of cushion away from the rubber, especially
in areas where doing so would weaken the underlying support. This
is particularly true when you have a small skinny piece of the
image that has been trimmed closely. Experience is the best teacher
here, but generally if you ink your stamps properly and if the
rubber die is of sufficient depth, a little bit of extra cushion
will not cause any problems. The end result should look similar
to the following picture.
Onto
The Mount
Regardless of what material you choose as your mount, there are
a couple of thing that will ensure your success. Be sure to choose
a material that is sturdy and will not warp. Hardwood is best
if you are using wood, though a good quality pine that has been
well cured be likely be servicable enough. Avoid plywood or composite
wood as this will tend to separate or warp as you clean your stamps
over and over after use. Plywood is very difficult to seal properly,
especially the edges.
It is important that you choose the right size mount for the stamp
you are mounting. Mounts that are too large may have the tendency
to pick up ink along the edges and if you are not careful this
ink will transfer to your work when you are stamping. Mounts that
are too small, even by a tiny bit, will leave areas of unprinted
image or blur the image in the area where there is poor support.
The following stamp has just the right amount of wood surrounding
the image.
If you buy wood mounts
from a manufacturer, they come in fairly standard widths, normally
with a groove along two sides. The supplier that I am most familar
with carries these in 18 inch lengths which you can then cut to
size.
Commonly available widths-in inches
3/4, 1, 1 1/4, 1 1/2, 1 3/4, 2, 2 1/4, 2 1/2 , 2 3/4, 3, 3 1/2,
4
As you can see, there
are many choices so it is fairly easy to find the right width
to fit your stamp. Also, in case you do not wish to cut the wood
yourself, some suppliers will also offer precut mounts, ranging
in length from 3/4 inches to 6 inches. Regardless of which you
choose, try to match the stamp and mount sizes carefully.
Another important consideration when choosing wood mounts is that
you generally want the grooves to run along the top and bottom
of your rubber image. This is the way we normally grip our stamps
when we are stamping with them. Our hands just seem to work better
this way.
It is best to finish wood mounts before you afix the rubber die
and cushion. Sanding and varnishing both give you a much prettier
mounted stamp, but this is by no means essential. It is recommended
though, that you at least give your mounts one coat of a good
spray sealer. An inexpensive option is to coat the mount with
one or two passes of extra firm hold hairspray. Actually, the
cheaper here, the better. It acts as an effective sealant once
it is dry and takes indexing well.
Indexing
Now that we have our rubber dies afixed to the cushion and the
mount cut and finished to our tastes, the next step is to index
our mounts. Indexing is the term used for putting an image of
the rubber image on top of the mount so that you can tell at a
glance which stamp it is. Indexing can be accomplished in several
different ways.
Ink
Indexing-Permanent Ink
Most often stamps that are already mounted when you buy them have
been indexed with ink, usually of the permanent variety.The mounts
are actually stamped with the rubber impression. The only tricky
part about this is that it is alot easier to stamp an index with
a mounted stamp than with an unmounted one. And obviously, you
can't mount your stamp and then stamp the same mount with it.
So this alternative method works fairly well. Permanent ink has
a tendency to dry quickly, so you must act fast. Either press
your unmounted die onto the permanent inkpad or using a small
sponge, daub up enough ink from the pad to then daub onto your
rubber die. Lay the rubber ink side up on a firm surface and quickly
press down on it with the top side of your mount. Be sure that
you postition the index on your mount in the direction you are
going to mount your rubber to it.
Ink
Indexing-Pigment Ink
It is possible to index stamps with pigment ink though not with
regular dye ink. If you use pigment ink, the procedure is the
same as in indexing with permanent ink, but the index must then
be resealed in some manner. Be sure to let the ink thoroughly
dry before sealing it. It is also possible to emboss the pigment
ink index while the ink is still wet, though the embossing tends
to come off after a time.
Paper
Label Indexing
A popular and easy method of indexing your stamps is to wait until
after you have mounted them and then stamp the image onto a piece
of paper which is then trimmed and afixed to the top of the mount.
This can be done at least two different ways.
Gluing
You can glue the stamped image to the mount and then seal it with
another coat of varnish, simliar to decopauge.
Often these little paper images can be colored in and embellished
beforehand, resulting in a pretty and unique index.
Packaging
Tape
Another way to affix the paper index is with the use of clear
packaging tape. The method is as above, though the paper index
must only be glued in one spot to hold it while the tape is applied.
Careful cutting of the tape is needed. It may extend down over
the grooved sides of the mount or only cover the very top, but
press firmly getting any air bubbles out for a tight and water
proof seal. Clear Contact paper can also be used.
Self
Adhesive Acrylic Sheets
Available in office and some art supply stores is a special clear
acrylic self adhesive paper which can be run through a copy machine.
It is fairly expensive but for a small collection of stamps, works
quite well. Simply stamp several images on a plain piece of paper
and run the acrylic sheet through a copier, transferring the images
onto it. These can then be cut out and afixed to the tops of your
mounts. Applying clear packaging tape over the top of this makes
and attractive and well sealed index.
Step
by Step
Afixing the rubber-cushion assembly is just like the step where
you attached the rubber die to the cushion. If you are using self
stick cushion, simply peel off the protective backing from the
adhesive and place the rubber-cushion assembly onto the bottom
of the mount, positioning it so that your index and rubber image
are both correctly aligned.
If you are using plain cushion, both the wood mount and the underside
of the cushion must be coated with rubber cement as you did to
cushion and die. Wait for the glue to become tacky before applying
the cushion-die assembly together and then press down firmly,
making a good seal. If you have applied more rubber cement to
the wood surface than is needed, it can be easily rolled up and
peeled off after it becomes dry. Again, check for proper alignment
of index and image before you permanently make the bond by pressing
the whole thing firmly together.
If you've managed to follow all these instructions, your result
should be a perfectly mounted and attractive rubber stamp. Don't
worry if your first attempts don't look like the mounted stamps
you get from your favorite stamp company. As in all things, practice
makes perfect and before you know it you'll be turning out mounted
stamps that look as good as the professionally mounted kind. And
look at all the money you've saved! However you choose to mount
your own stamps, buying unmounted can not only stretch your rubber
budget considerably, but having lovingly trimmed, mounted and
indexed your stamps for yourself can give you a great sense of
accomplishment. Imagine showing your stamp collection to your
nonstamping friends or a new stamper that you just met and being
able to say proudly…
"And I mounted all these MYSELF!"