| The Enchanted Gallery rubber stamp sheets are made of the highest quality dark red natural gum rubber. They are engraved deeply to provide detail and are suitable for stamping on a variety of surfaces including paper, polymer clay, acrylic, plastics or for making domino pendants (domino stamping tutorial available here.) Below is a step by step tutorial for mounting your stamps with EZ Mount cling foam. This foam is sticky on one side and has a smooth static cling surface on the other side. It can be removed and reattached (re-cling mounted) repeatedly to an acrylic block for stamping. This option eliminates the need for wood mounts, saving you money and storage space. Depending on the variety of sizes of stamps you own, you may only need one acrylic block for using all of your stamps. |
| I use my small unmounted stamps frequently on hard surfaces like plastic, dominoes, tile or for pressing into clay. PS. Unmounted does not mean unusable! *For domino art (1" x 2" size stamps) it's actually easier to see where you're stamping if you use them unmounted!* Just trim your stamps and lay them image side up on a table. Tap your ink pad's surface onto them (I use StazOn Jet Black ink for my domino art.). Press your domino down onto the stamp, firmly, taking care not to wiggle it. Color with your choice of media, some ideas on how to color on domino pieces can be found here. Store Index: pg.1: Rubber Stamps, pg.2: Acrylic pieces to stamp on, Pg.3: Mold Making Compound, pg.4 Face & Button Molds, pg.5: Nature Spirit Molds, pg.6: Goddess & Mythology Molds, pg.7: Fairy & Mermaid Molds Gallery & Information Index: pg.1: Customer Art Gallery, Mold Info & Instructions, pg.2: Kimberly Crick's Art Gallery, pg.3: Artist Biography & F.A.Q., pg.4: Shipping & Store Policy |
| 1) Your unmounted stamps will arrive uncut, as a variety of images arranged on one rubber sheet. Use a pair of scissors to cut out each individual images (special scissors are not necessary, but having a sharp non-stick pair for craft purposes is helpful.) Leave about 1/8" rubber around the image as you cut. You may trim closer if you are careful not to cut on a slant. If you undercut, that area of your stamp won't press evenly. I always cut my images out before placing the stamp on mounting foam. This helps to reduce wasted space on the foam and you'll be able to mount a couple extra stamps per sheet. If you prefer, you could also just lay your entire unmounted sheet on the sticky side of your foam and do all your cutting at once. |
| Note: This foam has a special cling surface on the foam itself, and is not like other double stick foam where you need to attach a separate clear vinyl sheet. This has cling power built in with strong tack (sticks to plastic via static cling, no sticky mess!) It never wears out or loses it's clingy strength, it will not fall off your acrylic block until you peel it off! The EZ mount foam is shipped slightly curled up at the edges, this is not a defect - just static cling tension. It can be flattened back out by pulling the unprinted liner off and replacing it while the cushion is on a flat surface. This is not totally necessary, as it will not effect individual stamps when cut out. Tips: You can use plastic binders to store your cling mounted rubber stamps. However, you should not use acetate/film transparency to store your stamps. Acetate contains chemicals that may permanently bond to the cling surface of mounting cushion. To care for the cling side of your foam it is a good idea to keep it attached to your stamp block during cleaning if you are using alcohol or stamp cleaners. Regular rinsing with water and/or soap is fine. If you own stamps that came with sticky foam (like Stampin' Up brand) you can place this EZ Mount foam over it for use with acrylic blocks. If you have many wood mounted stamps and are looking to reduce your storage space, you can loosen the adhesive on your wood blocks by placing them in the microwave for a few seconds. |
| 3) Peel off the white sticker liner (cling side) and press onto your acrylic block. The most common way to mount your stamps is with double sided sticky foam and wood blocks (like most retail store bought stamps are put together.) You can also buy double sided sticky foam and separate vinyl cling (which then is attached to acrylic mounts as a reuseable handle) but I prefer not to have an extra step of attaching vinyl cling to the foam, so I only offer the EZ Mount foam which has a static cling built in. |
| Cling cushion $5.50 per 8.5" wide x 11" tall x 1/8" thick sheet. |
| 2) Peel back the printed liner (sticky side) and place your rubber stamp's smooth/clean backside onto the adhesive. Cut the foam following the edges of your rubber stamp. |
| I do not sell mounts - If you need wood or acrylic blocks there are many vendors online. Acrylic blocks can be found at Michaels or JoAnn (try joann.com "acrylic block" for a wider selection of sizes than they have in stores.) Most of the stamps I use are ATC size (2.5" x 3.5") or smaller, so I bought a single 3" x 4" (about $3) acrylic mount from JoAnn.com for all my personal stamping. You can also use UM stamps temporarily with your wood or acrylic blocks using double sided tape or rubber cement (this might be sticky!) |
| Getting the most detail from your stamps: When stamps are brand new they may have unseen residue left over from the manufacturing process. While stamps are easily used right away without prep, you may notice an increase in image quality if you rub a pencil eraser over your rubber. A few good rubs back and forth will prime the rubber to accept ink more evenly. Wash away any eraser particles and start stamping. This is especially recommended if you're using wet dye inks like Distress Ink Pads, as the watery ink beads up on the smooth rubber surface unless it has been scuffed. Cleaning tip: If you are using Stazon or other hard to remove ink pads, try using rubbing alcohol on a paper towel or sponge to wipe your stamps clean. I find this works as good or better than special stamp cleaners that cost so much more. Plus, you get to avoid the time consuming process of having to go to the sink and/or use soap and water. |
| <-- Have a lot of tiny stamps? You may also consider buying small wood cubes (3/4" or 1" cubes can usually be found in the wood crafts section at Michaels or online stores.) Attach a stamp on each side of the block to save storage space. I recommend using double sided foam tape or mounting foam to help your impression turn out nicely. |