Anna Creates . . .

Posts Tagged ‘books’

Took a big trip this year? Get tips for making a vacation scrapbook in this free video clip about easy scrapbooking ideas. Expert: Jessica Cain Bio: Jessica Cain loves any excuse to get crafty, plan a party, or make personalized gifts! Her other hobbies include studying severe weather and keeping up with the latest music and entertainment news! Ca Filmmaker: kyle saylors

How Many Different Rubberstamps are There in the Big World of Art Stamps?

For me it all started with these rubberstamps. That’s right this cute little butterfly art stamp and this set of alphabet stamps.

I can remember my first rubberstamps. My brother gave them to me for my birthday. It was a butterfly art stamp, and an alphabet stamp set, that was 15 years ago. I can remember thinking to myself “what am I going to do with these rubberstamps”? Boy did I find out what to do with them. I made cute little butterfly note cards and I remember coloring them with a colored pencil (since that is all that I had back then or crayons), then with the alphabet stamps I stamped my family and friends name and of course finished it with a butterfly. Holy crow, he is the one that created my obsession with art stamps, and I am so happy that he did, thanks Mike.

What can I say; I Love Rubber Art Stamps and all the rubber stamping supplies that go along with them. Take a look at just some of the art stamps that I have. I have labeled each drawer and bin so I kind of know what is inside. I also have a few scattered around my craft studio on shelves. I told you that I Love Art Stamps. Now do you believe me?

Rubberstamps have come a long way. There are a ton of manufacturers for Art Stamps, depending on what you are looking for. A long time ago the only kind of art stamp that was available was the red rubber stamp mounted on a wood block. Now, those stamps are still available but there are also clear un-mounted art stamps that you take off of a cling sheet and adhere to an acrylic block. When you are done you just clean the stamp and take off the acrylic block and out back on the plastic sheet or in a clear plastic CD case.

The great thing about these art stamps is that you can see exactly where your image will be stamped on your card stock. This gives you less room for error (even though there is never an error in art, it just makes a different masterpiece then you expected)

What I love about the acrylic block rubber stamps is when you are working with alphabet stamps. The reason is you can have the correct spacing between each letter and word. When I have used alphabet stamps that were wood mounted, I usually had crooked words and phrases on my card or scrapbook page.

Another cool thing about these clear un-mounted rubberstamps is that they do not take up so much room as the original wood block art stamps. So if you do not have a lot of space to store your rubberstamps then this is the ideal way to go. I have two ways that I store my clear un-mounted rubberstamps. One is in a 3 ring binder, and the other in my Crop in Style Stamp Store tote. The stamp store can hold hundreds in the drawers.

There are also red rubber un-mounted stamps that you can purchase. They are cheaper than mounted rubberstamps. You can then mount them any way that you want; either on a wood block or use the ez-mount foam system (I will explain that in a near future article)

The last kind of rubberstamps that I can think of is the pre-inked art stamps. I have some art stamps that are pre-inked wheels. They are great for backgrounds or borders. All you do is insert the small cartridge of ink into the handle of the rubberstamps wheel, insert the wheel and away you go.

Well, as you can see I have A LOT of rubberstamps. And with all these Art Stamps I do not have any duplicates and I can honestly say that I use or have used each and every one.

About the Author

Visit JoansCraftWorld.com now to see pictures and to learn more about Art Stamps today.

Convert Wood-Mounted Stamps to Clear-Mount

IN THE COOP 5 EZ mounted rubber stamps $17.99

Vintage Fashion Girls. Fifties 08 // mounted rubber stamp (3″ x 4″) FLONZ WM $6.94

HOOTERS 4 EZ mounted rubber stamps $17.99

FREEDOM (4) EZ mounted rubber stamps $17.99

ANGELS 5 EZ mounted rubber stamps $17.99

House Mouse Mounted Rubber Stamp 3X4 Butterfly ExpressSTAMPABILITIES-House Mouse Designs Wood Mounted Rubber Stamps. Your favorite House-Mouse Designs images are available in high quality rubber stamps! Find the perfect stamp for birthdays; seasons; anniversaries; holidays and all your special occasions. These precious stamps are made of top quality pink rubber; gray cushion and hard rock maple wood with the design printed on top for…

Plaid All Night Media Wood Mounted 4 Square Stamp Set, Chinese Images $2.99 …

Darcie’s Cling Mounted Rubber Stamps-Rainy Day Birds $7.38 darcies cling mounted rubber stamp set. you will love the cute and playful designs in these stamp sets each stamp is made of red rubber and mounted on a foam pad for a solid transfer each time you stamp. this package contains rainy day set 9 stamps on a 4 1 4×4 inch sheet. made in usa….

The Art Of Making Mounted Rubber Stamps

The traditional red rubber stamp that everybody is familiar with will have been manufactured in a vulcanizing press. The first rubber stamp vulcanizing press was patented in 1890 by Charles Schultze in New Orleans USA. Vulcanizing  is today one of the most cost effective methods of making rubber stamps for mass produced stamps. Each batch of stamps is produced using a mould. This method of manufacture is more suited to stamp making where the same moulds are used over and over again. Making custom made stamps with a vulcanizing press requiring ‘once only’ moulds will drive the cost of manufacture up significantly.

Making the mould – before a mould can be made you must have a master plate manufactured from metal or polymer, the master plate has the necessary relief (the artwork is raised) to make an impression in the mould. Having a master plate made each time a mould is required is what drives up the cost of manufacture for vulcanized stamps. Pressing the master plate into a Matrix board creates the mould that will accept the rubber. Heat and pressure is applied to the master plate and matrix board inside a Vulcanizing press. The Matrix follows the shape of the relief provided by the master plate, this then hardens on cooling.

Making Rubber Stamps – Creating stamps is a simple process once the mould is made.  Raw rubber stamp gum is placed on top of the mould and then placed inside the stamp press. Hydraulic pressure is placed upon the rubber and the mould   from within the stamp press causing the rubber to melt into the areas of the mould that contain the images and text, curing and hardening takes about 10 minutes. Once cured the sheet of rubber is pulled away from the mould and cut up into individual stamps to be affixed to mounts.

Cost of a vulcanizing system is approximately $12,000 AUD

Advantages – Low cost of production for mass produced stamps, good ink transfer.

Disadvantages – Cost of producing master plates and moulds for custom made stamps.

Laser Engraved Rubber Stamps

The traditional raw rubber used for vulcanizing stamp dies  is quite unacceptable for the production of laser stamp dies, the laser process  requires a very even thickness and blemish free surface to produce an  acceptable printed image from a stamp die. The rubber must also be subjected to a specific curing process before it can be exposed to the elevated temperature of a laser beam.
The depth of the engraving is determined by the laser speed, its wattage and the density of the rubber. For example, a 50 or 100W engraver will engrave the rubber deeper and faster than a 25W machine, which may require a second pass to achieve a similar result. Usually supplied in an A4 size sheet  form, a good quality laser rubber is required for engraving stamp dies and  must also have suitable compression strength and ink transfer properties.

To assist the engraving process, it is necessary to remove the excess dust which is constantly created by the laser cutting action with an efficient exhaust filtration system. As very few, if any, CO2 laser engraving machines were initially purpose built for engraving and cutting rubber, installing and maintaining an effective dust extraction system pays long term dividends.  Mirrors, lenses and any exposed bearing surfaces should be cleaned thoroughly as part of a regular maintenance program. Any neglect in this area will be detrimental to overall trouble free laser operation, as the build up of dust and residue will affect running efficiency and the quality of the finished stamp die. Lasers are controlled directly from a computer, the software drivers supplied with lasers work with many graphic programs such as CorelDraw.

Approximate cost of a 25 watt Laser suitable for stamp making is $40,000

Advantages – Production is computer controlled, custom made stamps can be made easily

Disadvantages – High capital investment, maintenance costs and running will be much higher than vulcanizing or polymer methods of manufacture.

Liquid Polymer Rubber Stamps

Converting rubber stamp polymer from a liquid into a solid to make stamps is quite fascinating. Polymer stamps are manufactured between two sheets of glass using precision controlled UV light which passes through a negative containing the stamp artwork solidifying the polymer. Negative production has been simplified with the introduction of water based negative technology, photographic chemicals for producing negatives are now a thing of the past.

The first step in making polymer rubber stamps is to print your images, clipart or text onto Vellum, an almost transparent paper like film. To produce quality stamp artwork you must use a laser printer, inks from bubble jet printers are translucent allowing UV light to pass where it should not. Water based negatives are easily washed out after being exposed for a few minutes in a UV exposure stamp machine.

Polymer contained in a sachet is now replacing the older cumbersome method of using foam tape to create a dam and pouring of rubber stamp polymers, the sachets have also addressed the age old problem of removing air bubbles from the poured polymer.

The negative of your artwork and polymer sachet is sandwiched between two sheets of glass spaced 2-3mm apart which is then exposed in the machine for a few minutes. Once you have completed the exposure it is a simple process of cutting open the sachet and washing away the excess unexposed polymer before returning the stamp die back to the machine for a 10 minute curing. Once the stamps are cured they can be cut up individually. Polymer sachets are available in a range of sizes up to A4 size.

Processing time is about 30 minutes for a batch of polymer stamps.

Cost of polymer stamp making machines range from $3,500 AUD for an Australian made unit designed specifically for stamp making up to high end imported units with computer controlled washout for $15,000 AUD.

Advantages – Lower capital investment, polymers make almost clear stamps making them ideal for scrapbooking and card making. Stamp relief can be easily controlled during exposure.

Disadvantages – Early polymers did not accept inks as well as polymers available today, this along with being new technology caused initial resistance to polymer stamps.

Summary

Most large stamp manufacturers have a mix of the above equipment.  The unmounted rubber stamp dies produced with any of these manufacturing methods can be cut up and affixed to simple hand stamps, dater stamps or self inking stamps. Craft stamps are usually affixed to wooden blocks or in the case of polymer stamps affixed to clear acrylic blocks with adhesives or InstaGrip mounting mat. Various manufactures produces stamp mounts. Astron Industries in Australia manufacturer the clear hand stamp ‘Vuestamp’ and also distribute the Ideal range of self inking mounts. Other brands of self inking mounts are Trodat, Colop and Shiny.

About the Author

To read about cantaloupe facts, calories in cantaloupe and other information, visit the Knowledge Bin site.

Storing EZ-Mounted rubber stamps

IN THE COOP 5 EZ mounted rubber stamps $17.99

Vintage Fashion Girls. Fifties 08 // mounted rubber stamp (3″ x 4″) FLONZ WM $6.94

HOOTERS 4 EZ mounted rubber stamps $17.99

FREEDOM (4) EZ mounted rubber stamps $17.99

ANGELS 5 EZ mounted rubber stamps $17.99

from AMAZON…

New, Prodyne Méttala Modern Paper Towel Holder, Paper Towel Dispenser, Under Cabinent Paper Towel Holder, Wall Mount Paper Towel Holder, Stainless Steel $11.58 This stylishly moder paper towel holder by Prodyne is the perfect paper towel holder for any modern kitchen. The towel holder is cleverly engineered, using natural spring quality for easy loading and secure holding, mounts under any cabinet or wall (w/all mounting hardware included) — effective in its functionality and appealingly subtle to the eye. The towel holder also features stylish black…

Weston Restaurant Quality French Fry Cutter $59.94 Weston French Fry Cutter… the easy way to get uniform, delicious fries! Here’s a handy gadget that takes a lot of the work out of making home made fries, since you don’t even have to peel them these days! Don’t buy frozen… make your own with this Cutter! Features: Cuts up to 50 pounds of potatoes in an hour; Easily cuts 6″ potatoes into French fries; Wall or counter mount; Heavy-duty cast iron…

Rubbermaid Keepers White Wrap’n Bag Organizer $8.49 Rather than take up valuable drawer space, why not store your wraps in a convenient rack inside a cabinet door? They will be neat, and accessible and you’ll have an extra drawer now to store something else….

Evriholder Magic Holder 5-Position Wall Organizer $8.94 Designed to hold various household objects with handles of varying thickness. Simply insert a handle into a slot and a rounded, gravity controlled, rolling cylinder automatically adjusts to the handle’s thickness and grips it securely. Use in the laundry, garage, garden, utility room, office, and more. Holds handles 3/4” to 1 3/8” diameter. 5 position organizer….

FROM OTHER STORES….