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Acrylic
Mount & Unmounted Stamp Basics
Written
for rubber stampers who want to learn about the different
ways to buy and use rubber stamps. This primer is not designed
to give all the information needed to start mounting your own
stamps or cutting unmounted rubber stamp sheets. We do, however,
have the information needed on this site in our technqiues
pages.
Acrylic
Mount Information
Acrylic mounts are generally not available through your
general craft store and may not be available at a local rubber
stamp store. More and more rubber stamp stores are selling unmounted
rubber stamps and a few of those carry acrylic mounts, but it
hasn't fully caught on. Acrylic mounts are generally between
1/4" and 3/4" thick and come in various sizes. They
should be unbreakable. It is easiest to use a mount that just
slightly larger than the rubber stamp die. If the rubber stamp
does not completely fit onto the mount, it will not stamp properly.
Also, if the mount is far larger than the rubber stamp, it will
be hard to ink without inking your acrylic mount, which can
lead to stray marks on your paper. Note: Acrylic is heavier
than the wood most commonly used for mounting rubber stamps.
Larger sized acrylic mounts can weigh up to a full pound. We
order our mounts at 1/2" thickness rather than 3/4"
thickness to minimize the weight without compromising the strength.
1/2" acrylic mounts are unbreakable.
Care
and Cleaning
Harsh rubber stamp cleansers can cause crazing of acrylic,
which is a seriers of hairline cracks. If you need to clean
ink of your mounts with such cleaners, try not to do so frequently
and be sure to wash the residue off the mount with warm soapy
water afterward. Likewise, give your mounts a washing if you've
gotten ink cleaner on your mounts when cleaning your stamps
while still attached to the acrylic.
Temporary
Mounting on Acrylic Blocks
The latest
popular method involves applying repositional adhesive to the
backs of the dies so they can be mounted again and again on
acrylic mounts and stored on plastic 3-ring binder
protector pages or acetate. Some repositional adhesive is more
tacky than others. We've outlined which repositional adhesives
work best on acrylic mounts in our mounting techniques listed
under our techniques pages. Also visit our techniques pages
for exact instructions for temporarily mounting on acrylic mounts.
Some
rubber stampers like to use double-sided poster tape to temporarily
adhere rubber dies to acrylic mounts. The tape is normally applied
directly to the mount and reused with different stamps until
it loses its tackiness. Poster tape is less tacky than other
tapes and will not stick to your mounts when you try to remove
them.
Other
people are happy with the quick results obtained by temporarily
adhering a rubber die to an acrylic mount with craft glue stick.
It washes off the mount and the die with water and seems to
provide a pretty good temporary adhesion.
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