Some people are very concerned about keeping their stamps in pristine condition. I've heard of stampers that seal their wood blocks, paint them with nail polish, even cover them with packing tape to protect the wood. They scrub their stamps fastidiously right after they use them. I've even heard that Shelli Gardner (founder of SU!) even licked her stamp once to clean it! I'm not sure if that's true but it's a funny image isn't it?
I want you to know that I am not one of these people.
My stamps are USED and MESSY. The ones that are not USED and MESSY are either NEW (not mounted) or NOT USED (and I really should get rid of them).
I don't have a choice and I'd drive myself to drink if I tried to clean my stamps back to NEW condition.
You see I teach kids classes (up to 18 kids at a time in grade 3 to 7). They are MESSY stampers! I've had kids ink the WRONG side of a stamp before and then realized that they needed to ink the rubber not the block. By that time the BLACK PERMANENT INK is all over their hands and the wood blocks of every stamp they touch. And they like to touch them ALL!
I have figured out a way to eliminate cross contamination of ink - separate ink tables and similiar coloured inks at a time. For Valentine's I had only pinks and rose red out for one class. When I have red out -I only use red.
I want you to know that I am not one of these people.
My stamps are USED and MESSY. The ones that are not USED and MESSY are either NEW (not mounted) or NOT USED (and I really should get rid of them).
I don't have a choice and I'd drive myself to drink if I tried to clean my stamps back to NEW condition.
You see I teach kids classes (up to 18 kids at a time in grade 3 to 7). They are MESSY stampers! I've had kids ink the WRONG side of a stamp before and then realized that they needed to ink the rubber not the block. By that time the BLACK PERMANENT INK is all over their hands and the wood blocks of every stamp they touch. And they like to touch them ALL!
I have figured out a way to eliminate cross contamination of ink - separate ink tables and similiar coloured inks at a time. For Valentine's I had only pinks and rose red out for one class. When I have red out -I only use red.
I want you to see my FAVOURITE stamp - French Script. I use this one A LOT! Just this week I used it to emboss on my black Wedding Invitation Swap card. I use this stamp a lot and over the years the rubber has become BLACK. I wasn't even inking it this time - just using it with Versamark and then clear embossing.
It's not that I don't clean my stamps. I really do. Sometimes I even take them to sink and use a toothbrush on them. I recently discovered a great stamp cleaner called ULTRA CLEAN (I got it from Stampingfreak.com) - it's amazing and does a great job on all inks and even stained rubber.
You won't believe how much "purple" it took off my French Script stamp. But the best way to get ink off your stamps is to put them in Versamark. Seriously!
Do you know what happens when stained stamps come in contact with Versamark? Have a look at my photos and you'll see.
Now I have a Versamark pad dedicated to just my French Script stamp. Do you think I should get another French Script for light coloured ink only? I'm seriously considering it!
If you like french script that much...you probably should get another one for light colored ink...it would help your versamark pad!
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