Are you obsessed with your clear stamps? It’s okay to admit it, I won’t judge you. I’m actually kind of obsessed with mine too, and maybe it’s thanks to my slight OCD tendencies, but I really like keeping those bad boys clean. I’ve noticed a few things happen when I don’t clean them properly:
- the stamps aren’t as sticky, and therefore they don’t stick to the acrylic mounting blocks as well. And nothing is more frustrating than stamps that constantly fall off of the acrylic block as you’re about to stamp them on something.
- the fresh ink doesn’t show up as well on the stamps (since they are already slightly dirty), making it harder to tell if the stamps are really covered in fresh ink before stamping on a surface. This can result in you stamping a word where only part of the letters were actually inked, therefore you have to re-stamp the word by inking the stamp again and then trying to line it up perfectly again. This is 0% fun.
- colors can get mixed together making the results not so desirable. Think about it – if you are using a gray ink on stamps that were previously dipped in black ink, and not cleaned properly, your gray ink will likely appear darker than desired because of the black ink left on the stamps. Doing this will also result in contamination of your gray ink pad. I know, I know. Contamination is a strong word, but getting black ink in a gray ink pad (or any color for that matter) is no bueno. Trust me.
- dried ink stuck on the stamps can actually clog up parts of the stamps resulting in unclear images. And who loves unclear stamping? Not me!
Okay, have I convinced you to clean your clear stamps properly? Good, I thought so!
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Supplies:
I got my stamp cleaning pad and spray both from Hobby Lobby, however the cleaning pad is not on their website at this time, but I was able to find it on Amazon. The cleaning spray I used IS on the Hobby Lobby website, but not Amazon, so I found a similar one on Amazon in case you want to purchase both items from Amazon. If you don’t want to buy online, just visit your local craft supply store – they should have some similar options that will work. To buy online see the links below:
Here’s how I clean my stamps:
- stamp off the excess ink onto scrap paper
- place several stamps on the acrylic block
- spray the stamp cleaning spray onto the cleaning pad
- scrub the stamps (on the acrylic block) on the cleaning pad
- stamp off the excess ink onto scrap paper or a paper towel again
- spray some more cleaning spray into a paper towel and clean the stamps one at a time, making sure they are fully cleaned and dry
- put the stamps back on the clear stamp sheet that they came on when you bought them – this makes it easy to find the exact stamps/letters you are looking for, and it keeps them from getting misshaped or lost
Below is a video of me actually cleaning my stamps after doing a hand stamped book stack tutorial:
*To see the Hand Stamped Book Stack DIY tutorial blog post click here.
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