Unmounted Rubber Stamps

Friday 23 Sep 2005 by Chriss Coleman in

One of my favourite scrapping tools is rubber stamps. I usually tend to buy unmounted stamps because they are less expensive and don’t take up as much storage room.

Using them is quite easy. Lindsay Teague’s article takes you through the basics of unmounteds. She mentions in her article that she uses Kai scissors which is quite common among stampers. However, almost any scissor will do as long as they are very sharp and can cut fine detail. Beyond that, I look for scissors with a non-stick coating, which is especially important if you are cutting through anything sticky, like EZ-mount.

Here are a few of my favourite unmounted rubber stamp companies. Please note, I have absolutely no affliation with any of these companies. I just like their stamps. ;)

Of course, now that your collections of stamps is growing, you’ll need to be able to conveniently store them. Sherrill Ghilardi Pierre wrote an article for Scrapjazz.com on several different storage methods for unmounteds which included a link to Libby Weifenbach’s post on using CD jewel cases, which I personally love. If you like these ideas, definately check out Sunday International as well as Andrea Steed’s review on their products. You may also wish to check out Ma Vinci’s Mounting Tips & Links as she gives some great links to stockists various mounting methods, including acrylic and wood blocks and vinyl cling film (as an alternative to EZ-Mount).

Some companies offer super-tiny unmounted rubber stamps. I personally love the alpha minis as they are great for captions or journalling. However, many of the methods mentioned above would not be suitable for such tiny areas of rubber. There are two methods that I have found to be useful.

The first option is great if you own a Magnetic Stamp, such as that by Making Memories. Simply adhere a strip of magnetic tape to the back of the rubber, and then cut out your letters or images. It is very important to adhere the magnet before you cut, as it’s much easier to cut both layers together. I don’t suggest using your best scissors to cut these, as the magnet strip may damage or dull your blades. You should be able to find magnetic tape by the roll at most craft shops.

The second option is the one I use. It takes up a little more space, but it works for me. I simply cut out the lettes of images, and glue them to a short piece of dowel. On the opposite end of the dowel, I write the letter and put a little dot at the top. The little dot allows me to quickly know whether or not I’ve got the stamp upside-down, and allows me to figure out whether it’s a d, b, p, q, etc. I store my dowel-mounted stamps in short glass jars, which are labelled as to their company and font.

As a final note, if you like the idea of unmounted stamps, but have a large collection of mounted stamps, it is quite easy to make them into unmounteds. Simply pop the stamp into the microwave for about 5 to 10 seconds to loosen the glue, then peel the stamp off its block. Be sure to clean of any adhesive gunk with a product like Un-Do, as those little balls of glue residue will cause your rubber to stamp unevenly.

Happy Stamping!