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Does anyone store their clear stamps in clear CD cases?
Are you happy with it, over time?
I'm just inventoring mine on Evernote now and noticed how many are dusty, how many are yellowing most likely due to the length of non coverage near one side that is hinged together, and how many are cracked over time due to handling.
I'm actually thinking of swallowing the additional expense of converting them all to the system that JM uses with her long rectangular plastic pockets. I'm beside myself with the money wasted on the cd cases, and the added expense of getting those plastic pockets and probably additional sheets of acetate or whatever is safe to store those polymer stamps on. I threw all of my original packaging away so I don't have the original plastic sheet it was stuck on but still have the sheet with the printed images on them.
I'm going to hold off on converting for now due to lack of funds, but it certainly is food for thought as a future organization project.
What are your thoughts? Have those project folders that JM uses held up over time? Have your CD cases held up over time?
I do. I think some stamps will yellow and some wont. No problem with dust but I keep the cases in an enclosed CD tower that I found at a garage sale. I really like that I can group them and just pull out what I need. I took a couple to a scrap and they seemed to be impressed by how I store my stamps. There was no cost as I found CD cases at garage sales. I pop the hub that holds the cd's out. They will bust apart if you drop them but most times will snap back together easily.
There have been multiple threads regarding this issue, but the one that has the MOST and BEST information about safe storage is this one: Going crazy with clear stamp storage
If you want the condensed version, it's something like this: many of the manufacturer's carrier sheets are NOT safe for long-term storage. Any other method of storing (laminated sheets, envelopes, whatever) should be polyester in some form or another (vinyl, etc.). The polyester is stable and archival, therefore safe. Depending what the CD cases are made from, they may/may not be safe, but it is my understanding that the clear hard plastic ones are not polyester, while the flexible translucent ones probably are.
Photopolymer stamps can yellow over time, but this does not affect their performance in any way. Getting soft - even gummy - can cause problems, though - such as tearing when transferring from carrier sheet to block and back again. Investing in a laminator and the pouches for it is the BEST investment - HANDS DOWN - that I've ever made in organizing/storing my stamps. The pockets like Jennifer (and others) use can be costly, and they are larger than I personally want, so I use the pages of cheap 4" x 6" photo albums as sleeves for mine. I cut them right out of the album and carry on...
Thank you so much Sue. Sorry, I posted my original post from my phone and I haven't learned how to use the search function on my phone. I remember see conversations on what kind of clear plastic to stick the polymer stamps on, but hadn't put time into seeing specifically about the CD cases. They've been all falling apart as I'm handling them. Ugh. Sad thing, is that all the handling these have had have just been from me putting them in, labeling the spine and putting them in two different kinds of storage so far.
IMO, definitely not durable. I see the Avery Elle pockets are on sale at Joanns this week, so I think I'm going to go the JM way as soon as my budget clears me to shop.
Thank you, thank you Sue for the link and for your advice. I haven't had any go gummy yet, but yes lots are yellow. I guess I'll take those along with permanent staining on my stamps as a badge of honor. I think I'll be spending more money for the rubber cling in future SU orders. I'm not really like the polymer cling set in the From the Herd I just got.
I'll be doing my reading for sure later on tonight. Thanks again Sue.
I'm just inventoring mine on Evernote now and noticed how many are dusty, how many are yellowing most likely due to the length of non coverage near one side that is hinged together, and how many are cracked over time due to handling.
I'm actually thinking of swallowing the additional expense of converting them all to the system that JM uses with her long rectangular plastic pockets. I'm beside myself with the money wasted on the cd cases, and the added expense of getting those plastic pockets and probably additional sheets of acetate or whatever is safe to store those polymer stamps on. I threw all of my original packaging away so I don't have the original plastic sheet it was stuck on but still have the sheet with the printed images on them.
I'm going to hold off on converting for now due to lack of funds, but it certainly is food for thought as a future organization project.
What are your thoughts? Have those project folders that JM uses held up over time? Have your CD cases held up over time?
I converted mine to JM's system, and it was the best choice I could have made. It's a breeze finding just the stamp I need thanks to JM and Evernote, the perfect combination for me. .
I'm about 60% done with cataloging my clear stamps now. As I had to take some off yo stamp because I don't have the sample sheet from the mfg, a few of them tore. Grr! Didn't affect stamped image but still. Yup, I got a few gummy ones.
Cd cases are so cumbersome.
Ann and Sue, I can only imagine what it feels like. I'll get there soon enough! After his, need to tackle individual wood mounted ones and hopefully by then I'll have the energy to convert my current CD case system.
Now here is another question. How long do you keep/use your stamps? I think I may have stamping ADHD. I tire of the stamps and see something shiny and buy.
I buy and keep. Now that I'm going thru, I could probably get rid of about 12 sets? But too hard to sell these days. I need to get better with reselling sets I'm done with. But problem is I don't know when I'm done. I might need it later?
A lot of my stamps are 10-15 years old. I think 3-5 sets are recent within last 4 months.
Now here is another question. How long do you keep/use your stamps? I think I may have stamping ADHD. I tire of the stamps and see something shiny and buy.
I don't really tire of stamps (I still have a a few of the first stamps I ever bought - around 1989, maybe?), but I still like "new and shiny". I don't buy as much as I used to, though. I'm better at knowing if I'll actually use something or if I just like to look at it. I don't need things in my space just to admire...
Ching - kudos to you on your re-org! If you're like the rest of us "dark-siders" who've gone unmounted, you'll wonder what took so long! I'm sorry you've had some gummy/torn stamps - it's like watching friends suffer injuries... I have some that I just sort of stick back together while I'm putting them on the block or MISTI or whatever, because I just can't bear to get rid of them (although others were beyond the work-around and had to get tossed, sadly...)
Sue, I'm a purist and that I spent the money for mounted, so it just doesn't make sense to unmount them all. I like things in their original packaging. Plus, I just think it's too hard to resell when it's original form is altered. I'd hate to have something altered if I bought it second hand. I'm weird like that.
I've always bought rubber on wood mounted stamps, but started to buy the rubber cling and polymer when they became more prevalent, sometimes because it was the only choice avail or because of price.
It's taken me close to 4 months to inventory all of my stuff. I have one drawer left of polymer sets to do, 3 done. Then I have about 70 A6 sized wood mounted individual stamps to research and catalog. At least those will all have the mfg, name etc on the side of the wood handle. Last of the stamps will be about 4 tubs worth of alphabet stamps. Then I might go and add masks/stencils but i don't remember how much I have.
It's incredibly eye opening to inventory ALL of your crafting stuff at once. Seriously...what was I thinking? But my evernote is looking really good!
thanks to the other thread, I can see I have to research the duralar sheets when I'm ready. I need to spend some time to figure out how I want to store everything. It'd be nice ideally to just have wood mounted sets and unmounted (regardless of cling or poly) to be all in just 2 systems. Currently, i have 4-5.
I hear you on the purist thing, Ching! I have a friend who keeps everything as pristine as possible - original packaging, wood mounts, etc. - but I just don't have the space! My husband and I were considering living in an RV (we're actually considering it again right now), and so I started consolidating with that thought in mind. That came in pretty handy when we moved across the country (New York to Nevada) last fall - everything fit in the car except for a couple of priority boxes of punches and dies (didn't want to weigh the car down any more than we had to, and a cheap alternative, relatively speaking...), along with our clothes and my sewing machine.
It's more important to me to have the images I want and to be able to find them when I want than it is to worry about how they're mounted/packaged. But if you have the space and it makes you happy to have them "pure", then good on you, I say! We each get to do it the way that works for us/makes us happy, right?
On the re-sale thing: many are finding that the value is just not there - regardless of how intact the set is - when they go to sell their things. Unless something is genuinely rare, it is hard to recoup much of the original cost. I don't sell mine, just give them away, so I can't speak to how much of a loss there is, but I've heard others mention it...
I agree with you Sue on everything. Value is just definitely not there anymore. For now, I have the space and will make sure I have the space.
An RV? Living minimally is incredibly attractive to me as we all are often surrounded by too much stuff! I've been watching the show Tiny Houses on cable and it's just fascinated how people go from one extreme to another.
I've been stamping for almost 20 years now and think I have tried just about every type of storage system there is. I now have something very basic that has worked for ne for years. For clear stamps I keep the plastic sheets they are on when I purchase them and transfer them to envelopes which I place in a fabric bin. I can get MANY sets in one bin - here is a link to a photo ...
Omg I would drive you all crazy. I rarely clean my stamps, I used too then got out of the habit. But then I mostly use permanent ink (stazon). But I did discover while making a catalogue of my stamps that the wood mounted ones seem to stamp better.
I got DVD cases. I made the mistake of adding cling stamps to them as well. Never, ever, ever do that. They lost their cling completely. Clear stamps have been sitting for a year and so far fine. Though, some of them cling a little too well.
However, I realized it was still a pain to go through the DVDs to see what I wanted.
So I picked up the Tim Holtz binder I had gotten 2 years back but chucked in a corner. Placed, the sheets with the design in the pocket and stuck the stamps on the backside. So from the front I can see what is in there and just flip and pick up the stamp from the backside.
What I love is that I just need to open the binder once, flip through and take out the stamp. With DVD cases, I had to take them out, check both sides, open individual cases and take out what I wanted.
I am finding the binder to be a huge time saver. Already ordered another one
Does anyone store their clear stamps in clear CD cases?
