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I'm not new to stamping. But I can't get a good stamped image. I do ink the stamp well. I use a piece of foam under stamp. But lately I can get a good image, lot's of white space. I tried standing up to stamp, that doesn't help. I tried holding pressure on stamp extra time for ink to soak up, not working. Some stamps just don't like me. I've been fighting with an Inkadinakdo stamp of a guy holding guitar with swirls around him. I use stampin Up inks I know I'm doing something wrong-help! :confused:
Try putting some versamark on the stamp first and then use the ink. I am not familiar with Inkadinakdo stamps so I don't know if they are rubber or clear. If it is rubber and a solid image try sanding it a little with a sanding block.
I'm guessing your stamp is clear, in which case, my experience is that Inkadinkado's clear stamps aren't the greatest quality. I believe they are acrylic, rather than photopolymer, and in any case, I think SU's inks are mainly meant for optimal use on rubber stamps. The versamark might help but so will a better quality stamp. Don't let this experience discourage you.
I actually had some clear stamps that were not stamping very well with regular ink. I tried pigment ink(Colorbox) and the image came out perfectly. You could always give that a try.
I'm guessing your stamp is clear, in which case, my experience is that Inkadinkado's clear stamps aren't the greatest quality. I believe they are acrylic, rather than photopolymer, and in any case, I think SU's inks are mainly meant for optimal use on rubber stamps. The versamark might help but so will a better quality stamp. Don't let this experience discourage you.
the newer SU inks might work better with the clear stamps
Do you have the older SU pads or the new foam ones? I have photopolymer stamps from Lawn Fawn and my new foam SU ink pads work fine with them. Perhaps the problem is with the Stamp you are using? I would try using Versamark first or a pigment ink like the others suggest.
It might be your paper. I was having one heck of a time getting crisp images and someone on SCS suggested trying some Whisper White paper instead of what I was using. That was all I needed to do, I have had much better luck since that day. There is a sort of sheen on the WhWh paper and that makes a difference over just plain white cardstock.
__________________ "For the strength of the Pack is the Wolf, and the strength of the Wolf is the Pack" ~Rudyard Kipling my gallery
It could be the stamp itself... I've been using clear, photopolymer stamps for almost 10 years, and only ever had a problem once. The stamp hadn't been made right, so it wouldn't stamp correctly. I would suggest stamping the image on a small piece of paper, and sending it to Inkadinkadoo. Maybe they've had others with this same issue with that same stamp.
Any chance of a pic of an image, maybe someone will see what the problem could be. I know a lot of people recommend chalk inks with clear stamps, and Versafine is usually a very good choice for them too. Is it always the same area of the image that doesn't stamp well? That would suggest its the stamp, rather than anything else. If it is, I'd recommend contacting Inkadinkado as well.
One thing I thought of that hasn't been mentioned is the surface you're stamping on. Are you stamping on a desk? A countertop? A solid table (like a kitchen or dining room table)? One of those tables that can be folded for storage? You'll get the best results with a sturdy surface, whether or not you're using a foam sheet underneath your cardstock.
As its rubber, is it mounted onto wood, Ii had this with one stamp. I unmounted it, and remounted onto some new foam backing, which fixed the problem. It seemed that one area of the foam was slightly squished!
With rubber, one of the things that I find often helps is a lot of stamping-off of the image onto scrap paper, with no cleaning in between. So ink it up, stamp it off on scratch paper til you get no more images, then ink it up and do it again. Hopefully, you will see the image improving as you go.
But I will also say that if the spotchiness occurs in the same spot, over and over, no matter what you try, it is possible to have a defective stamp where the surface is uneven.
Because it's wood mount, have you tried stamping without the foam underneath? It's often recommended for clear stamps because they don't have the extra layer of give (the foam) that woodmounts do, so I wonder if, when you add the foam pad, that sort of OVERcompensates?
Man, who knew stamping was so complicated, eh? Is it any wonder I gave it up twice before trying a third time?
I was going to mention your table also. I bought a white folding plastic table from costco to hold stamping events on. I was really surprised to find it sucks for stamping. it is hollow and bends when you push on the stamp.
The paper you use makes a major difference. I was using the Georgia Pacific paper from Wal-Mart and I tried Whisper White. Wow what a difference. I still use the GP when I am going to color with Copics because the WW will pill. But for everything else it is awesome paper. Also I personally like Archival Black ink for silhouettes and sentiments.
You know sometimes a stamp is just a bad stamp. Yep, I've had stamps that no matter what ink, paper, inking method, sanding, etc. The stamp just won't stamp correctly.
I've had stamps where the foam mount was uneven and where there was an imperfection in the rubber that no amount of sanding would remove.
Getting stamped image to come out right
