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I am ready to make my first attempt at unmounting a few stamps. I have read MANY posts and gotten a ton of great information. I decided to invest in a hotknife since so many people seemed to recommend it as a much easier way to cut the EZ mount sheets. Now that I am ready to use it, I am wondering if I need to put something UNDER the EZ mount so that I don't damage my table. Since it is going to cut through the sheet of EZ mount, I am thinking something should be under there....??? Any suggestions from experienced users would be much appreciated!
Amanda
I take off the white backing paper from the EZ mount. Then - I have one of those tempered glass cutting boards (that I've never used because of the awful sound of cutting on it LOL!) and I stick the EZmounted stamp to that and use the hot knife. It works great. The EZmount stays put, then comes right up and the tempered glass can handle the hot knife.
As the other posters have said, use tempered glass. If you don't have that, use a piece of glass inside an old frame. That's what I did until I got my mat.
__________________ ************************************************************** Deborah "Imagination is more important than knowledge" ~ Albert Einstein
You can find it in the woodburning craft section (although I'm seeing it in the craft aisle at Walmart these days). It is a blade that you plug in and it heats up. It is an excellent tool to cut through foamboard and stuff. It is fantastic with EZ Mount (or any similar product) because it literally slices through the foam (like a hot knife through a stick of butter) without cutting the rubber of the stamp. I like it a lot for when I was unmounting my stamps because using scissors meant that I had to clean the blades every couple of stamps because it would gum up. I got mine at Michaels and I think the brand is Walnut Hill or something like that.
I got my hot knife from Joann's online and used a gift certificate I got as a trade; I think the actual cost of it was about $14.
The glass I'm talking about is sold all over, I think, as a cutting board. I've had it for a long time but I'm sure they still sell them. Y'know - they have different pictures on them. Mine is herbs. On the back is says Made In England by Tuftops Ltd. I know it just came from a local store though - Target, KMart or Wal-Mart probably. If I'm out later I'll see if they have them ;)
I don't use any type of a matt i just cut around the edges i don't set my item down. I just bought another one cause i have had mine over a year and if it goes out i would not be very happy so i bought a backup. I use it all the time love it.
I take off the white backing paper from the EZ mount. Then - I have one of those tempered glass cutting boards (that I've never used because of the awful sound of cutting on it LOL!) and I stick the EZmounted stamp to that and use the hot knife. It works great. The EZmount stays put, then comes right up and the tempered glass can handle the hot knife.
Hi ladies - I appreciate all the responses. You have been very helpful!! I've been lurking around this site for quite some time now. Mostly I've been reading threads on how to unmount my stamps (lol) and lookng at all of the beautiful work in the gallery! I've made just a few posts and this is the first time I've actually posted a question. You have all been wonderful! Thanks for the awesome help and making me feel welcome!!
Just go to WalMart and purchase a glass cutting board in the kitchen section.
A hot knife is actually an electric exacto knife & in many cases also comes with a soldering tip. Hot knifes can be purchased all over the place, WalMart, Mikes, Joanne's, on line at Dick Blick & Amazon just to name a few.
Be very careful using the hot knife, do not use it around little ones and be careful around pets. Do not watch any Harry Potter movies while using the hot knife it is not a wand and shouting "stupendo" will only scare the dog. Along those same lines, do not pretend that you are John Williams conducting the National Orchestra during the July 4th concert playing the 1812 Overture, you will hurt yourself. Do not have some sort of sudden jerky movement and grab the bare metal with your left hand, you will burn yourself, have to raid your BF medicine cabinet for the Lortab so you can sleep as the pain is so intense. Trust me, I've been there.
On the positive side. It cuts through ezmount like butter and you will be amazed and wonder "What took me so long." Then you get over confident and do the stupid things in the above paragraph. :rolleyes:
__________________ McFadden/MacHappy Ho /Kash So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.1 Cor 10:31
Just go to WalMart and purchase a glass cutting board in the kitchen section.
A hot knife is actually an electric exacto knife & in many cases also comes with a soldering tip. Hot knifes can be purchased all over the place, WalMart, Mikes, Joanne's, on line at Dick Blick & Amazon just to name a few.
Be very careful using the hot knife, do not use it around little ones and be careful around pets. Do not watch any Harry Potter movies while using the hot knife it is not a wand and shouting "stupendo" will only scare the dog. Along those same lines, do not pretend that you are John Williams conducting the National Orchestra during the July 4th concert playing the 1812 Overture, you will hurt yourself. Do not have some sort of sudden jerky movement and grab the bare metal with your left hand, you will burn yourself, have to raid your BF medicine cabinet for the Lortab so you can sleep as the pain is so intense. Trust me, I've been there.
On the positive side. It cuts through ezmount like butter and you will be amazed and wonder "What took me so long." Then you get over confident and do the stupid things in the above paragraph. :rolleyes:
Too funny, although I am sure it wasn't funny at the time.
Welcome Sweetie to SCS!!! My hot knife is made by Walnut Hollow. They're in the wood crafts section at Michaels. Use a coupon!! I also buy the extra blades w/ a coupon. Blades are located right beside the knife, 2 to a pkg. The blades aren't made like reg. exacto knives, these screw into the knife.
I've dedicated 1 blade to *dirty* cuttin' like EZ Mount. The hot blade melts tensy bits of EZ as it slices through and in turn, it burns onto the knife. This takes a millisecond so don't bother w/ trying to wipe it off quickly. Mine is nice and brown, ;). I have scraped it with a sharp knife, sanded it, etc. trying to clean it up, it don't budge.
You'll need to do fast cuts, this cuts down on the melting and gives a much cleaner cut.
I have the EK Success glass mat which is pricey but any glass will work. I wish I had known this before buying mine. Being a newbie, I thought I HAD to have this mat. For that matter, if you don't have an old pic. frame, try an old, unfinished piece of wood... anything that will stop the cutting of the blade and protect your good work surf.. and.. won't melt.
I tape my little wire knife holder that comes w/ it to the table w/ packing tape. DO have a good stationary place to park it between cuts. TAKE YOUR TIME! The very second I take my mind off the mega high degrees of the knife, I manage to touch it! BE CAREFUL. Don't use it with children present.
HTH! May God bless, Sandi
__________________ StormyElf'd '07Humble Ink Smears If at first you don't succeed, talk to God! Then, go put on your big girl panties!
Last edited by SouthernStorm; 07-19-2008 at 05:55 PM..
Reason: addin' stuff
When un-mounting my stamps, I found it easier to do a whole page at one time. This saves a lot of EZ mount. You can just fit them on the page any which way you can get them to fit...almost like working a jigsaw puzzle. They can be pretty snug again one another as you only need a space the thickness of the knife to cut between them. Be sure to remove the back piece before cutting. I just hold my piece of EZ mount up and cut...don't really need a glass cutting board.
When un-mounting my stamps, I found it easier to do a whole page at one time. This saves a lot of EZ mount. You can just fit them on the page any which way you can get them to fit...almost like working a jigsaw puzzle. They can be pretty snug again one another as you only need a space the thickness of the knife to cut between them. Be sure to remove the back piece before cutting. I just hold my piece of EZ mount up and cut...don't really need a glass cutting board.
YES!! That's EXACTLY what I was just going to tell you!! You save a ton of EZmount by not having to allow space for the scissors and going crazy with twisting it around etc. and worrying that you are going to bevel the foam. I also do a little "tidying up" around the edges by holding the stamp up and just running the blade along the edge.
Also, in the post above, she mentions taping down the little prop-it-up stand for the hot knife. I tape mine down too.
What a useful thread. I use EZ Mount all of the time and I didn't know that it could be cut with a hot knife. It'll be the next thing that I put on my 'to buy' list.
I have removed the white backing paper and used the hot knife to cut the stamp on the glass. HOW do you ladies cut your stamps?
Do you unstick the stamp once in awhile and move it around when you cut or do you just move the knife around the stamp? I sit when I use the hot knife, stick and unstick the stamp form the glass mat and I think the tackiness of the cling foam's almost gone :( I tried to stick on the ezmoutn sheets and they fall off .. help.
I have removed the white backing paper and used the hot knife to cut the stamp on the glass. HOW do you ladies cut your stamps?
Do you unstick the stamp once in awhile and move it around when you cut or do you just move the knife around the stamp? I sit when I use the hot knife, stick and unstick the stamp form the glass mat and I think the tackiness of the cling foam's almost gone :( I tried to stick on the ezmoutn sheets and they fall off .. help.
I just cut around the stamps. I don't think the tackiness should ever be gone. Do you think it's gone because the backing paper doesn't stick anymore? Because you don't really need to put it back on. I keep my cling stamps in CD cases and just put them in there when I'm done. I toss the paper. The cling should still be fine with your acrylic blocks
I tape my little wire knife holder that comes w/ it to the table w/ packing tape. DO have a good stationary place to park it between cuts. TAKE YOUR TIME! The very second I take my mind off the mega high degrees of the knife, I manage to touch it! BE CAREFUL.
Thanks for this tip! SO important! That little wire holder is so wobbly! Once when I took my eyes off of it for a second, my hotknife had fallen onto the carpet and did some minor damage -- you have to really handle this instrument with care!
I have removed the white backing paper and used the hot knife to cut the stamp on the glass. HOW do you ladies cut your stamps?
Do you unstick the stamp once in awhile and move it around when you cut or do you just move the knife around the stamp? I sit when I use the hot knife, stick and unstick the stamp form the glass mat and I think the tackiness of the cling foam's almost gone :( I tried to stick on the ezmoutn sheets and they fall off .. help.
I stick as many stamps as I can on 1 sht very close tog. If the sht isn't completely covered, I cut around the stamps line to free the extra EZM. With it removed, I cut out sections of stamps at a time. I 1st tried turning each stamp, then it dawned on me, it would be faster/easier to cut the sides easiest then turn the glass to finish them off.
To address your un-stickiness problem:
It may be possible that your glass mat needs washing w/ a bit of dish soap and warm water, rinse well. There may be oils from your hands that have built up on the glass and is transferring to your EZM. Ya know how glass loves fingerprints! ;) I usually wash my mat every time before using to cut stamps. I periodically wash my EZMed stamps w/ dish soap and water, rinse well if they seem to not stick as well. Wipe off and let them dry thoroughly before re-storing. This makes the *stickiness* of the EZM as good as new!! I don't think I've ever read that anyone ever had EZM to stop sticking. HTH.
May God bless, Sandi
__________________ StormyElf'd '07Humble Ink Smears If at first you don't succeed, talk to God! Then, go put on your big girl panties!
Thanks to the OP!! I've had some Christmas and Halloween stamps sitting on EZmount sheet for ... yikes! ... months now!! Thanks to the question and making me thinking to myself about how easy it is -- I trimmed several sets today and I'm almost done
You all have convinced me that a hot knife is the way to go. I suppose that I will put that on the top of my wish list. Thanks for all the information--you all are so helpful.
You all have convinced me that a hot knife is the way to go. I suppose that I will put that on the top of my wish list. Thanks for all the information--you all are so helpful.
I'm guessing its *fess up* time. :( I had unmounted most of my stamps when someone here suggested the hot knife. I had that sucker and the glass mat sittin' w/ my craft stuff all the time. After feeling absolutely stupid and beatin' myself up I ran to drag them out. I, too, procrastinated for weeks when I would get my stamps cleaned and ready to mount. Oh God, I HATED cleaning those sticky scissors, even tho, alcohol wipes did a fantastic job... NEVER AGAIN!!!! :p
__________________ StormyElf'd '07Humble Ink Smears If at first you don't succeed, talk to God! Then, go put on your big girl panties!
Great thread! I bought a hot knife awhile back and havn't used it yet... Thanks to you ladies, I now know what to do. I feel silly admitting that I didn't know if you were supposed to cut the rubber with it or just the EZMount! LOL Thanks for the help!
I love this technique. It's so fast and easy! I was able to do about 8 sets less than 2 hours. It was so easy, but that knife sure does stink when it gets super hot!
I bought one too to use on my EZMount. I am going to use this large ceramic tile that looks like marble as a cutting surface. I think that should work pretty well.
__________________ Julia Gluten free on 9/15/2008. I am a Celiac. 1 in 133 Americans is a Celiac and 97% of those who have Celiac Disease are still undiagnosed. Are you one?
One of my stamping buddies won a hot knife and had never used it. I was telling her about using to cut out unmounted stamps and she let me borrow it. Normally, I won't borrow anything becuase if it breaks I have to replace the item and I still don't have one for myself, but I figured it would be great to try it before buying one. I also thought it was going to be so easy because I use a torch for metal work and have no problems, right?
I got a glass mat, mounted the stamps to the EZ mount, heated up the knife. The first few stamps cut out like butter, athis was great, and then OMG everything went to hell in a hand cart!
The part of the knife that holds the blade sheared off, the blade hit the mat and started to roll to my lovely carpeted floor. I quickly put the hot knife on the stand and the stand fell over. Now the whole knife if falling to the floor. I grabbed the cord to catch the knife. The blade is still rolling in slow motion towards the floor and I didn't have a pot holder. The only thing close was a paper towel and a swifter. I grabbed the swifter to stop the blade from rolling to the floor and of couse, it was to thin to protect my hands. Ow, that burns!! I dropped the blade and the swifter, the blade rolled to the carpet. Oh no! It's melting the carpet, I grabbed a pair of scissors to use as tweezers since my tweezers were buried somewhere on my desk. Whew, only a small piece of carpet showed a mark, thank goodness.
I'm still holding the hot knife because the stand is also now on the floor. As I went to get up off the floor I glance at my desktop and the swifter was smoldering!!! Oh dang, if that thing starts to flame its going to catch all the paper scraps on fire. I grabbed my fine mist sprayer and after a lot of sprtizing I swifter was thourghly doused and no, I didn't think to take the top off the bottle and dump on the water.
My first calm thought was how could I explain that I burnt down the house all because I was tired of getting gunk on my scissors?
Now I have to replace the hot knife, my ecru carpet has a brown melted mark, I wasted a swifter cloth, and I still have to cut my unmounted rubber with scissors.
So, my adivce is that I suggest you have a pot holder nearby, never take your eyes off the knife as the stand is pretty weak, have a larger bottle of water nearby, keep some burn cream in your room, or better yet, just use scissors as I think the hot knife is kind of dangerous.
One of my stamping buddies won a hot knife and had never used it. I was telling her about using to cut out unmounted stamps and she let me borrow it. Normally, I won't borrow anything becuase if it breaks I have to replace the item and I still don't have one for myself, but I figured it would be great to try it before buying one. I . . .
OMG I burned myself on my coffee reading this!! You poor thing. I glad everything kindof turned out ok. I always burn myself whenever I use my hot glue gun. I think if my husband ever caught me with a hot knife he'd take it away from me. I've just had way too many trips to the ER to risk using a hot knife. not really the graceful type :mrgreen:
Hi Scuba and Robin! I don't think the hot knife will cut through the rubber. I believe it really only works to cut the cushion. So basically, if you buy unmounted rubber and add EZ Mount, you will need to trim your rubber with scissors first, then add the EZ Mount, then use the hot knife to trim the EZ Mount, using the rubber as your guide for the hot knife.
I bought my hotknife at JoAnn's, and found it near the wood craft products. I think that's true of the location at Michael's as well. Hope this helps!
Stamphappy, I think the stand is really weak too - I used a hot knife for the first time this week. I used masking tape to tape the stand to the table so it didn't fall over/collapse.
__________________ "You may not have lost all your marbles, but there's definitely a hole in the bag." Grumpy Cat
question about EZ mount and hot knife
