/* */ Beulah Bee

July 05, 2018

Stamp Conversion


I recently purchased a stamping platform and I am over the moon about it! Stamps I avoided in the past because they were difficult to use no longer scare me. And because I want to use ALL my stamps with this new tool, I have converted my collection of wood-mounted stamps to cling-mount.

I want to share some things I learned during the process to help others who might also want to do this. There is already a lot of information on the web but it didn't really prepare me for what I was up against.

You will need to purchase the cling mount sheets. I used a brand called EZMount and buyer beware, there are two sizes: Regular which is 1/8" thick and thin which is 1/16" thick. Go to the manufacturer's website (Crafter's Companion) and the product descriptions will explain the difference. I used 1/8" thick foam for all my stamps but your needs may be different.

This was a good time for me to purge some of my inventory and donate stamps I no longer care for, giving me a better idea of how much cling mount to buy. I only converted my favorites and didn't convert really tiny ones.

Make sure to measure out your stamps on the printed side with the stamp facing up and give yourself some wiggle-room with the margins. This is because it's tricky to lay the stamp down exactly where you want it during the final mounting and you'll be able to trim it more cleanly if you leave a little more room.


I didn't use scissors to trim the stamps. I used a utility knife instead and think it was MUCH MUCH easier. When I came to some curvy parts, I just made tiny stabs around it with the knife--no problem.





You may get some "sticky-stuff" on your knife blade or your fingers. I used paper towels to wipe off the knife blade and gel hand-sanitizer for my fingers. You don't want to transfer any of it to the image-side of your stamp so keeping things clean is kind of important.

Okay, that was the easy-part. The hard part?

Nothing I read on the web prepared me for the challenge of cleaning the stamp's backside once it was removed from the wood base. Each and every stamp came off differently and presented new challenges.

A few peeled off perfectly and required no additional effort--they were ready to remount. Most peeled off the wood base pretty easy but no matter how carefully I worked, remnants of either foam or dried glue or really tacky glue remained on the backside.

The cling-mount instructions state that this side should be clean before mounting and I accepted the challenge. Here are some examples:


In the photo above, the original glue (still VERY tacky) remained on this stamp and I only had to pick away at the few bits of foam, left the glue intact and it was re-mounted.


In this example, the stamp peeled fairly cleanly except for some foam areas and the glue holding it on was dried out and very hard. I used a grout saw which has a sandpaper like edge to scrape away the remaining bits.


Here's another example of what remained after a peel from the block only this time, the remnants (glue and foam) were still somewhat sticky and would be difficult to try to rub off (think price tag on plastic).


So I used a strip of high-adhesion masking tape, rubbed it down over the remaining bits and voila! It pulled off the glue and the foam easy-peasy (wish I'd thought of this sooner).


In my last example, the foam and glue that remained on the stamp was roughed up with my scraper first and then I used masking tape to pull off the loose material.



If you are still reading along, I'll end this post with a couple more tips/suggestions that you might consider:
  • It will be tempting but don’t use "Goo-Gone" or "Goof-Off" or similar solvent-based products as they are not recommended for use on rubber and could damage your stamp.
  • If your stamp is of a ruler or similar image where having a really straight edge is important, don't forget to mount it on the foam as straight as you can. The rubber is flexible and kind of floppy and that could work against you during your placement.
  • Before remounting, it's a good time to give the image-side of the stamps a good cleaning and also to re-trim problem areas that the manufacturer may have missed.
  • Do the easy, least favorite stamps first until you get the hang of it.
In the end, I am SO GLAD I tackled this and I can't wait to give new life to stamps that will shine under the control of my stamping platform.

My storage needs have changed and I plan to blog about a rather unique solution at a future date that you may enjoy reading about as well.

Until next time, Happy Stamping!!

July 04, 2018

June 24, 2018

Penny Farthing


A journal page to share with you today made for Simon's Monday challenge--this week's theme is "Transport It." It was a chance to embrace my passion for collage and to try out a new addition to my craft stash--Idea-ology Plain Collage Paper (Tim Holtz).


Over the years, I have amassed a sizeable collection of images taken from old picture books (no worries--they were destined for the trash) and it was a pleasure to find the material I used for the background.

I also used an image from the net that was fussy cut and pasted over the top. The foreground paper is from Tim's French Industrial paper stash. The text is a Tim Holtz Clippings Sticker.

The Plain Collage Paper was used to stamp the typewriter keys (Tim Holtz Documented) and also the postage stamp (Hampton Art 2010).


Here's a close-up view and you can see how transparent this collage paper can be. I find it superior to other tissue papers I have used in the past and know I will get a lot of use out of it. There are also printed versions with flowers, birds, and script.

In case you are wondering, a penny farthing is a high-wheeled bike and I suspect the driver of the motorcycle with sidecar may have been the photographer.

That's the Hammersmith Bridge, London in 1900. The city skyline is Florence, Italy, and the postage stamp and the stamped script (Inkadinkado) are French. Now that's traveling!