I can’t believe we are already at week 3 of my Cardmaking 101 series; saying that, I have a heap of posts in the planning for you! I can see this series lasting a while, please feel free to drop me a message or leave a comment if you have any card making questions, and I will do my best in answer them in a future Cardmaking 101!
This week I thought it might be helpful to discuss the different types of stamps. Now, before we getting into the post proper, I just want to remind you that I am a Stampin’ Up! demonstrator, and so I will be discussing there products!
Wood Mount Stamps
Ok, so Wood Mount – this refers to Red Rubber stamps mounted onto wooden blocks. There are some real advantages to these stamps; the main one being that the blocks are pre-mounted, no scrabbling around searching for the perfectly sized block each time – they are already there! Stampin’ Up!’s Wood Mounted stamps arrive as a sheet of red rubber stamps, a series of wooden blocks, and a sheet of stickers. Before you can stamp you must pop the stamps out of the sheet and work out which stamp matches which block (I’ve made this sound complicated, its really not – its usually pretty obvious which stamp goes with which block). The stamps are pre-glued, and you peel the backing paper off the stamps and stick them onto the blocks. The stickers are then stuck onto the other side of the wooden block for identification.
I love my wood mount stamps, however, they are more expensive, and they take much more space to store – although they do sit next to your clear mount stamps on your shelf.
Clear Mount Stamps
Like Wood Mount stamps, Clear mount are our classic red rubber. I am totally a red rubber girl – I just love the quality and feel of red rubber stamps. Clear mount stamps require Clear blocks to allow you to stamp, you mount and un-mount them at each use. Stampin’ Up! clear mount stamps also come with a sheet of stickers, however, I find that they affect the cling if not perfectly applied to the stamp meaning that the fall off the blocks half way through stamping! So I tend to just put the sheet of stickers inside the slip cover on my stamp cases and leave them there! Saying this, I am a Clear mount person – I love the red rubber, and the value of the clear mount wins every single time!
Photopolymer
Stampin’ Up! Photopolyer stamps are fantastic! They are the same quality as the classic red rubber, but allow you to see through the stamps for perfect alignment every time! I recommend Photopolymer for layering stamps and sentiments. Some sets are available only in Photopolymer, however, more and more sets are available in all three options. Photopolymer stamps are generally packaged in our DVD sized clear mount stamp cases, although if there are lots of stamps they sometimes come in the bigger Wood Mount cases, but they still sit nicely with your other stamps on the shelf. Photopolyer stamps are a great price, and come between two sheets of Window Sheet. Be warned though, Photopolymer stamps have a habit of ‘wondering off’ your desk and into the bin as they get stuck to things and can be difficult to see! Photopolymer also tends to stain over time, particularly if you use red/pink ink, this doesn’t affect the stamp and will not transfer to your next project.
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Hannah Wilks
Stampin’ Up! UK Independent Demonstrator