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Are Stampin' Up Clear Mount stamps actually their plain rubber stamps? I ask because some where along the way I assumed they were acrylic stamps colored like their rubber ones. There's so much written here on the forum about acrylic vs. rubber vs. photopolymer (my fav) and SU Clear Mounts are always mentioned, so I'm guessing that's why I made that assumption. Also, acrylics have to be mounted on clear acrylic blocks just like SU Clear Mount. And I've noticed when I remount my SU rubber stamps on EZ Mount they look exactly like the Clear Mount foam padding and all. Some time ago an SU demonstrator told me that SU Clear Mount stamps are not clear but colored so they are easier to see and ink stains would not show as easily as clear acrylic. If they are not acrylic, and everyone seems to feel acrylic are better and that's the way the industry is going, then why doesn't SU make acrylic or photopolymer stamps?
They are not acrylic, they are unmounted versions of Stampin' Up's real red rubber.
I don't know that acrylic are better -- these give the great quality impressions that you always get from Stampin' Up rubber.
__________________ Yapha I help people who are sick and tired regain their energy and improve their gut health so they can stop feeling exhausted every day and get back to feeling their best.
You can see the red rubber and the gray side sticks (heart images in picture) to your block. They come with clear stickers (with black words/image) you can stick to the gray side to make it easier to stamp with a clear block to line up images.
I find I have an easier time with clear mount over wood. Less storage room, less rocking / uneven stamping, and no icky stained blocks!
I too don't think I'd agree that photopolymer are better than rubber! For storage, maybe, but in my experience they don't give a better impression than good quality rubber. I would still buy rubber over clear by preference.
In my experience, *some* polymer stamps ink just as well as the rubber.
But not all. Some are really bad for inking up a solid-type image and you get terrible results with dye inks. For these, chalk inks seem to work okay.
I have some clear polymer stamps from Technique Tuesday that are just wonderful for inking them up with dye inks, and are wonderfully detailed. Just as wonderful to use as the rubber. Of course, the new dye ink pads from SU really make better images all the way around!
I have always thought "clear mount" was not as accurate as calling them "cling mount" would have been. I guess it's because the BLOCK is clear but it does, to some, make it seem as though the stamp itself might be clear. I always refer to them as cling mount in conversation (even though I know it's wrong) because I don't want people to think they are clear stamps. The SU people probably would like to tar and feather me because not only do I not call their stamps the right thing, but I call dimentionals "pop dots" :shock: and I call snail a tape runner
__________________ "For the strength of the Pack is the Wolf, and the strength of the Wolf is the Pack" ~Rudyard Kipling my gallery
SU clear mounts are just their regular red rubber stamps without the wood and on a different gray mounting pad.
That's the only way I prefer to purchase them. Although not all the sets come that way so I still have to buy the wood ones from time to time.
As far as how the industry might be heading I think they might be going the cling mount way as its more environmentally safe as their still making the stamps but without the wood backing. And you only have to buy the acrylic blocks one time and you can reuse them.
CTMH makes awesome clear polymer My Acrylix stamps which are wonderful to use.
The difference between CTMH stamps is that you can use the as is or you can bend or curve them and you can't do that with rubber stamps.
As for my personal preference I LOVE cling mount stamps whether they are my (retired) TAC stamps, SU stamps, or CTMH stamps.
__________________ Mary Ellen
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Stampin' Up Clear Mount Stamps...........rubber?
