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I'm sorry I think this ? has been asked before, but I'm wondering if the time past has changed the answer. What I mean is... it took most of us (unmounters) awhile to adjust to the idea of un-mounting our SU stamps. (The space savings alone is well worth the effort.) Other unmounted stamps have been becoming more and more popular.
So now that we seem to be okay with unmounteds, should I get rid of all of the wood? I have tons of wood with the SU stickers on them, then I have plain wood and lastly wood from other stamp companies. I have no problem with keeping the plain wood, but the ones with stickers are bothering me, I can't ever see me searching thru box after box looking for the block that goes with a set, and why would I... I've never sold a set from my collection!
I guess my issue comes down to storage again, I have 5 or more large SU boxes of just stickered wood. They are taking up floor space in my garage. This is still somewhat defeating the purpose of unmounting! So far I'm keeping it just in case! In Case of what I ask?
Dina.....My thought on the matter is......we unmount to save space and easier placement of the stamp. So why in the world would we now want to keep the wood mounts? Resale value is less since they are unmounted, would have to be listed as remounted. Besides, if I liked the stamp enough to purchase it in the first place, why would I want to part with it?
My solution is to just throw the wood mounts away, they really are not good for anything but junk collecting.
Again, these are just my opinions. I know there are people who would greatly disagree with me.
OOOh please consider donating it to schools who still have wood shops and vocational education. I cannot tell you how many time I needed wood at school and had to buy it myself! Day cares could probably use it to for maybe craft projects for the kids- they would make darling altered "paperweights".
Patti, everything thing you said is how I think, but it's just the final throwing it out that i haven't done yet! Thanks.
53queenbee, would they be able to use the wood with the stickers? When the are pealed off it leaves a gooey mess. I don't have the time patience to clean them off.
Anniesmom, yes you are right, I just bought a case of duraflame logs for the holiday season, but it's been too hot... so they are going back to the store! Lol!
Okay, someone needs to force me to throw them out, I'm getting closer!
Yes, stickers are not a problem. I used wood in sewing for setting snaps and grommets. The wood shop can practice drilling. Art can use it for the stamps they make. In food I used it for practicing icing decor. In Child Development I used them for homemade building blocks...etc.
Trust me-teachers take anything and make it work. The sticker can be removed with undo and the block sanded.
You would not believe with what I have made bulletin boards!
Please don't throw them away, there can be so many things that can be done with them. Just the 53queenbee said, give them to someone that will use them. You can get the stickers off with goo-gone or maybe fingernail polish remover. You can make little photo blocks out of them, little ones can use them to play blocks, you put new stickers on them and play like a memory game, you can do all types of things with them.
Several months ago as I began my unmounting project I asked an alsmost identical question on here and got A LOT of responces. Here's the thread if you're interested:
In the end I didn't get a chance to do anything with mine... My DH cleaned out the garage one day and decided that they were rubbish and tossed then for me. Part of me was frustrated that I didn't get to do something with them myself, and the other part (a bigger one!) was relieved that I did not have to do anything with them myself. Oh well!!
__________________ Kathryn
Do you know if there's a 12-step program for stamping? No, seriously, is there??
Do you know any two year olds? They would love to stack them and build with them. Any kindergarten teacher would love them to add to the building blocks as well.
__________________ ************************************************************** Deborah "Imagination is more important than knowledge" ~ Albert Einstein
A friend of mine makes custom stamps and sells them mounted. I traded some custom stamps from her for a bunch of blocks from me.
In a craft book I saw a very cute nativity set. It was made with felt figures cut out and mounted on to wooden blocks. It was absolutly darling and because it was tough the kids could play with it. It would be great to make any kind of precon on the block. Partucularaly people from various backgrounds since they can be so hard to find. As I think about it I will make some people bkocke for baby showers that are coming up. One family has an Asian background and another family will be adopting an African child. They will make great decorations and later toys for the kids.
A good friend of mine. unmounted all of her SU stamps. And she gave me the wood mounts for my dh. To burn in our wood stove, or use for some of his projects.
I sadly enough threw mine away. I kept them for a little while but I could not find anyone to take them. I checked with several teachers and no one wanted them. I just didn't have the space in my house to keep them since it was the whole point anyway to save space by unmounting
You can donate them to a daycare or a neighbor with children.
DH takes the few I unmounted and used them. One is under a cabinet in the garage to level it out.
I was wondering the same things with my wood. I haven't done this yet, but I think what I might do is somehow attach them to my craft room wall. Either buy building or buying some kind of skinny shelving or maybe just sticking them right to the wall??? I thought it would probably look really fun and also all of the images would be there for inspirations. What do you think?
I keep a basket in my stamping room for new SU wood blocks. I happily send them to people for the cost of postage. If I get too many in the basket, I post in the BST forum and someone swoops in and takes them off my hands. My basket is getting kinda full...
The other option is to add the wood mounts to your recycling bin. If you're having a hard time letting go, maybe grap a handful or two a week (or however often you recycle) and release them gradually. That way, if you find another use for them, you still have some left. If not, it's a gradual weaning process.
Good luck - you can do it!
A second question - how do you recommend storing the rubber stamp itself? I have several clear sets that I keep in a photo album, but never thought of removing my red rubber stamps from their wood mounts (I'll use the excuse that I'm still new to the wonderful world of card-making).
A second question - how do you recommend storing the rubber stamp itself? I have several clear sets that I keep in a photo album, but never thought of removing my red rubber stamps from their wood mounts (I'll use the excuse that I'm still new to the wonderful world of card-making).
I store mine in cd cases. For my old stamps I pealed them off and remounted them on Ez-mount, it is a foam that has a very good quality cling side that when stored clings to the cd case, and when used it clings to the acrylic block. For my new trimmed SU sets I just peal the backing keeping the foam on the stamp, stick it on my jeans several times to remove excess stickiness and then into the cd cases. Most SU sets fit in one cd case, sometimes 2. I label each set on the spine of the case. Then they are stored on the cheap white book cases, that I purchased at office max. I actually bought extra book cases to just use the shelves, in the ones I already had. That way my shelves are narrow (cd size) and I can fit hundreds of stamp sets on each bookcase. If you like using umounted stamps then this is the way to go, the storage savings is so worth it. Do it before you have way too many sets to unmount like I did, it has taken me months and months to do mine.
Thanks to everyone for the great advice on getting rid of the wood. I do believe I am really leaning with sucking it up and getting rid of what is basically extra clutter!
Great advice - where can I find EZ Mount? Is it something Hobby Lobby or Michaels?
I got mine from Sunday International online. Local crafts stores do not sell it. It is somewhat expensive. But, I trim the stamps first and place them close together on the sticky side on the foam, and trim using a hot knife (sold at Michael's) it makes it so much easier and faster than scissors. I end up getting about 7 SU sets on each sheet on ez-mount.
I do remember you saying you were a new stamper, so you may not need much of the ez-mount.
LSS had a "garage sale" where we could bring our stamping-related items and sell them - and I brought some wood sets and they sold - no stamps, just the wood - so SOMEONE wants them!
I do not "unmount", but I truly adore my unmounted rubber & acrylics. Alas, those blocks with attached rubber are still found throughout my shelves. :rolleyes: But I can understand your dilemma. How about considering:
large lots of blocks in our BST forums
eBay
Craigslist
chimineas ... okay ... that was one I didn't think of myself ;)
I'm always a little surprised to see that what one man considers as 'junk', another is happy to call his 'find'! :lol:
When my children were small we bought a canvas bag full of plain uncoloured wooden blocks of different sizes from Hamleys (an upmarket toy shop in London).
These blocks were one of the most successful toys we ever bought. My kids had so much fun playing with them.After my six kids grew up they were passed on to one of my grand kids. They are still in existence. Don't throw them away. but pass them on to other pre-schoolers.
I donated some of mine to my daughters preschool. They use them for learning to stack in sizes and shapes. They also cut letters out and put the letters on the blocks. Then they try to put the alphabet in order. The teacher said that they love the idea!!!
Oh, the OP could be me! At first when I started unmounting I put the blocks back in the cases and boxed them up in boxes by date they retired. (I know, my ocd is showing). I figured if (when) I sold them I could put them back on the blocks. Hmm...what is wrong with this picture. Who sells any rubber? After all, if I did, I would want it back the next day, right? So, I had 5 large SU boxes of unmounted sets...and a few more small boxes with more recent sets' blocks and stickers in their cases that never got mounted.
Well, I decided the other day that things are out of hand. I took all the sets that I had never mounted, dumped the blocks in a box, put the stickers in a pile to toss, and stacked the boxes to list in the BST forums. I have 5 grandkids 4 and under who will love to play with the blocks. I may sort them a bit to make sure that there is no frustration with dimensions...but then they go in a tub for playing with.
Haven't done anything with the rest...the ones that still have stickers...that is for next time.
Okay, so I'm seeing this unmounted rubber and looking at my stacks of SU boxes. DH is loving the idea of unmounted as he sees a use for a) the cd tower in our garage b) old cd cases stacking up out there and c) uncluttered shelves and my complaints that my cubbies are all full and I need more storage!
So, I have a million questions! Some show their rubber completely apart from any mounting medium such as ez mount? Do you just use rubber against acrylic block?
How do you get the rubber to stick to the acrylic block?
Have you lost any stamps because of this? I have several SU sets that have rather small stamps to them, ie. small petal or leaf that outlines in the 2 step processes.
Any ideas? Comments? I'm ready to jump into this but don't want to regret my decision!
Okay, so I'm seeing this unmounted rubber and looking at my stacks of SU boxes. DH is loving the idea of unmounted as he sees a use for a) the cd tower in our garage b) old cd cases stacking up out there and c) uncluttered shelves and my complaints that my cubbies are all full and I need more storage!
So, I have a million questions! Some show their rubber completely apart from any mounting medium such as ez mount? Do you just use rubber against acrylic block?
How do you get the rubber to stick to the acrylic block?
Have you lost any stamps because of this? I have several SU sets that have rather small stamps to them, ie. small petal or leaf that outlines in the 2 step processes.
Any ideas? Comments? I'm ready to jump into this but don't want to regret my decision!
I unmounted many of my older sets, but KEPT the stickers. I just peeled the stickers off and stuck them on the foam side, then put a coat of Tack It Over and Over glue on the sticker side to adhere to my CD case (or, in my case, the detached clamshell lid). You can then see right through the acrylic block to the image from the sticker and perfectly align your image every time! It makes brousing my images effortless. So I say, KEEP THOSE STICKERS! They are priceless and match perfectly (of course)! You'll never get that nice strong image again, even if you stamp in StaZon.
As for the blocks, when I can bear to part with them (and I'll still keep some fer sher), I'll probably take them to the church's pre-school play place. In the mean time, I'm waiting for a project to use them on.
I'm hearing alot about this "tack it over and over"; guess that's my next gotta have item!
Yes, I say try it! I always say, to go along with that, I had a friend try this method and she didn't like it at all. But I've loved it. The key, I think, is just adding a very minimal about of the Tack It Over and Over. You don't need much. I've read about people saying that they don't like the idea that you have to wait to let it dry before you can use, etc. When I do it, I use a very thin coat, and it dries quickly. I don't have to wait until the next day to use it. I do touch the sticky side with my fingers some when it's dry to take extra stickiness off. It's been working great for me. Hope that helps somebody out there!
What to to do all this wood?
