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I hope someone can help me with this issue...I'm trying to use the solid flower from my shapes and shadows stamp set. The ink isn't "sticking" to the rubber very well. It looks very wet and when I stamp it, it doesn't make a solid image, sort of blotchy. Does this make sense? It seems like I heard about sanding the rubber a little bit to rough it up. Does anyone have a suggestion?
It makes sense to me. I have a hard time with a couple of my stamp sets doing that and have wondered if defective rubber was used. Is that even possible?
I also have a harder time with real red and rose red.
Solid images sometimes need roughing up a bit. You can rub them on your jeans, use an eraser, scrub hard on the stampin' scrub, etc. Also be sure you are tapping the stamp onto the ink instead of dragging it or you may get drag marks. Good luck!
Just like in baking, where you spray a muffin pan for easy clean up and release of the muffins, a release agent is used in the rubber molds when molten rubber is poured in.
With solid stamps, the release agent is often still on the stamp to a degree when you get it. It needs to be cleaned off by using a variety of methods. Using an eraser helps. Rubbing the stamp on denim jeans. Stampin Up recommends stamping several times on scratch paper before stamping finally on your cardstock -- kind of like "curing" a new pan. Clean the stamp several times using a stamp scrubbing pad. Some people sand very gently with fine sandpaper.
I would try any of the above before trying sandpaper...or use craft ink, lol! I never have the problem with a thicker ink.
MSBetsyZ gave a great explanation - that "release" agent is generally silicone that coats the mold so you can get the vulcanized rubber out.
Some stamping stores sell blocks of fine sand paper. The owner of the Owl and the Pussycat stamping store firmly warned me to only do it once on new stamps.
The best thing I have found that gets that silicone off a "shadow" type stamp is gently scrubbing with a Magic Eraser (once!). It was fine enough to get off the silicone without damaging the desired smooth surface of the image.
Just like in baking, where you spray a muffin pan for easy clean up and release of the muffins, a release agent is used in the rubber molds when molten rubber is poured in.
With solid stamps, the release agent is often still on the stamp to a degree when you get it. It needs to be cleaned off by using a variety of methods. Using an eraser helps. Rubbing the stamp on denim jeans. Stampin Up recommends stamping several times on scratch paper before stamping finally on your cardstock -- kind of like "curing" a new pan. Clean the stamp several times using a stamp scrubbing pad. Some people sand very gently with fine sandpaper.
I would try any of the above before trying sandpaper...or use craft ink, lol! I never have the problem with a thicker ink.
Wow, this was a lot of good info! You not only had the solution, you had the explanation! That always interests me. Thank you!
I personally like to use a soft white eraser to clean off the "skin" on a new solid rubber stamp. A demo once recommended rubbing the stamp over a brown paper bag -- might be worth a try if you don't want to use an eraser. I would discourage you from using sandpaper of any grit - I did it once with fine sandpaper and the rubber still has skid-marks!:confused:
I use a very used metal finger nail file to give a little extra grip on my solid stamps. Very lightly and a very little at a time, dont' want to damage the stamp, file a little then test, if you need more just do the spots that aren't picking up the ink.
Someone on SCS mentioned that sometimes a stamp will hold a suction so when stamping a solid stamp leave the stamp on the paper longer. It seems to help.
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I had this problem just the other day (again). I just rubbed them on my jeans. I wouldn't go for the nail file or sand paper until you've tried less abrasive methods. I've heard, just like some people posted about being sorry later because it's easy to ruin a stamp.
OOhhh, the sand paper thing is way too scary for me! I'd worry about ruining my stamp. All the other ideas are good ones. I always tell my customers that stamps get better with age, this is one of the reasons why. They just take the ink a little better after they've been cleaned a lot.
I had a similar problem with some stamps I had last year. I ended up trading them because even with all the wonderful tips that I had learned in a thread just like this one, I still couldn't get it to work. This year, I've started experimenting some with craft ink. Oh, WOW!! What a difference!! The extra dry time is not much and the solid impressions are beautiful!! When I think about all those frustrating hours of trying to use that pretty stamp, and then having to get rid of it because I just couldn't get a good impression! If only I had known that craft ink would do it! And now with the spots being available in craft ink, there's no reason not to try them out if you haven't yet! I'm beginnig to use them more and more, and lovin' it!
__________________ Cindy
"Just when I think I have all the stamps I need... I get a new catalog in the mail!"
This was a problem that one of my customers noted. Then I experienced the problem myself with the Trim the Tree set. I used the white sanding block that is often used for distressing paper and I am pretty sure is in the SU catty. It worked like a charm and i won't turn back! I do it automatically for all my solid stamps now and it is fantastic not to have that problem any more! Good luck with it.
Rubber isn't holding the ink...what do I do?
