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Well it took me FOREVER to decide....but I have decided to go unmounted. I ordered the stuff so hopefully I will have it in a few days so that I can start. All of my stuff is going unmounted though....I just don't have the space to keep wood mounted things.....
I plan to unmount everything that is non-SU or retired-SU except alphabets (& MAYBE 2 step stamps, haven't decided on this yet). I have 11 sets done (about 3 million to go :rolleyes: )
Believe me, as much time as I have spent over the past several years mounting my stamps, there is no possible way that I would unmount them. At the moment (and we know quickly we can change), I only use wood mounted. Fortunately, I have two rooms in my basement, so I don't have to worry about the space issue.
There wasn't an option for my choice--I only have mounted and I'm never switching--I can't stand acrylics! JMO
I am unmounted and do not use Acrylics at all. All of mine are pure RUBBER with the exception of one CTMH set that I hate. You can go unmounted and never touch acrylics.
I chose #3 but the fact is almost all of my stamps are unmounted. I got to the point storage-wise that I was going to have to start selling some of my stamps and I just couldn't bear to part! So I have gone 99% unmounted. I had until recently left my big background stamps on the wood mounts, but I even got too many of them (love! the BGs) and so I unmounted them, too.
I have a very few single stamps (15 or so small ones) still on the wood, mostly my various turtle stamps, because I love turtles. They are on a small shelf above my work space, really only for decoration.
Probably 85-90% of my stamps are Stampin Up! and all of them are unmounted (or were never mounted in the first place).
I am in the process, albeit it a long and sloooow process, of unmounting many of my SU wood mounted stamps. Storage is definitely the reason. I'm leaving background stamps wood mounted as well as word/phrase stamps (like Everyday Flexible Phrases) and alphabet sets. Everything else will eventually get unmounted. I use the Grafix Vinyl Cling and it's worked great for me so far.
I have mostly wood mounted (about 80-90%), but use some clear acrylic word stamps from Impression Obsession, and a few rubber unmounted word stamps. I won't unmount any of my SU stamps, probably ever. But I like the ease of using clear words. :-)
I am unmounted and do not use Acrylics at all. All of mine are pure RUBBER with the exception of one CTMH set that I hate. You can go unmounted and never touch acrylics.
I think some get confused over the term acrylics. When I say unmounted, I mean I use an acrylic block in place of wood to temporarily mount an unmounted stamp so that I can stamp an image. I think some hear the word acrylic and think of the clear stamps like the ones CTMH sells. Which by the way, I also own and use also. CTMH has alot of great images in their summer catty.
__________________ Laura SCS Member #772 My Gallery
I'm a UM girl. I got into SU after being introduced to stamping by TAC, so I have never mounted my SU sets, they go straight to Creative Cling. And my kids love all the blocks (my husband puts wheels on them, we have a fleet of SU mount cars).
I think some get confused over the term acrylics. When I say unmounted, I mean I use an acrylic block in place of wood to temporarily mount an unmounted stamp so that I can stamp an image. I think some hear the word acrylic and think of the clear stamps like the ones CTMH sells. Which by the way, I also own and use also. CTMH has alot of great images in their summer catty.
I was thinking the same thing when I read the response above. I think they were referring to "acrylics" as the clear stamps, but in actuality the handle itself is the one that is acrylic.
I am only using MOUNTED WOOD (boy that does sound dirty) from now on. I ventured into acrylic and polymer (CTMH and other vendors) and then acrylic and rubber (TAC) and realized that although they took up less space I really hated the issue of having to remount them each time, having to look upside down and backwards to see what images were, and not being able to just pull them out to stamp with my daughter. Therefore now only wood mounted for me. Getting rid of the clear stamps cause I don't like the images and permanently mounting my TAC rubber onto some blocks. THen I can just grab and go and be able to share with my daughter and not worry about dropping little pieces of polymer and rubber on the floor and having my 2 year old eat them, LOL.
Trying to decide the best way to approach this change.
If you have gone unmounted what did you do and why?
If you are trying to decide how to approach this change, I might advise working with unmounted for a while to make sure this is the way you are going to want to do this forever. I tried them out last year and I am glad I didn't unmount anything. Some people love it and never look back, but boy wouldn't you hate it if you decided you didn't love it anymore and you had unmounted all of those stamps.
and it was great - saved space and I could see where I was stamping better, BUT then I decided to become a Stampin Up demonstrator and since SU promotes their stamps on wood blocks, I mounted my current Stampin Up stamps again. But as soon as they retire, I plan on unmounting them again. It doesn't really bother me so much to use them mounted.
I unmounted almost all of mine last year. I put Aleenes Tack It Over & Over on them and let it dry. Now I store all of my stamps in 3 ring binders. I use regular page protectors and put the stamps on the outside with a piece of cardstock on the inside to keep the page protector sturdy. So much easier to store and to find.
The only ones I did not unmount were the little ABC stamps I have -- because I couldn't get the rubber off! LOL
__________________ Outside of a dog, a book is man's best friend. Inside of a dog it's too dark to read.
Clear stamps are made of polymer. The mounts they are used on are made of clear acrylic. Therein lies the confusion when many folks are discussing the pros and cons of "acrylic stamps" or "clear stamps" or going unmounted.
There are no acrylic stamps! OK, wait. I take that back; mebbe there are indeed acrylic stamps out there, but they would hardly work well for stamping on anything other than skin--ya' know, like the tattoo stamps for kids. ;)
I think it would help eliminate a lot of confusion for folks newer to stamping if clear stamps were referred to as "clear polymer stamps" vs. rubber stamps, which are frequently wood mounted, but CAN be used in UM fashion with acrylic mounts.
"Acrylic" just sounds so much prettier than "clear polymer", so that's why everybody lumps 'em all into that, and then it leads to confusion, UKWIM? ;)
I actually am a die-hard wood mounted, rubby red rubbah fun-addict, but will use high quality clear polymer, it that's the only option available for an image(s) I really like and want to possess. :grin:
So, I guess, for the purposes of this poll, I'd never actually unmount my rubber stamps. I'm a lazy stamper, and UMs are too much hassle for me.
Just my .02 , which ain't worth a heck of a whole lot! chuckle!
Especially when I'm in dire need of a cuppa this a.m.
__________________ Julie Ebersole (JulieHRR once upon a time . . . )julieebersole.com"So shines a good deed in a weary world." -Willy Wonka
I unmounted all my reitred SU! stamps and other company stamps. My current SU! ones stay on wood. In case I ever have to demo them. I don't have any "clear polymer stamps" just a few acrylic mounting blocks. I love both wood and acrylic.
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HI, I unmounted all my stamps a couple months ago. Space was the big issue for me. I just put TIO&O on them and it has worked great. I have all of them in 3 ring binders- one special for SU sets only. I found that baseballcard holders wok great and you can store a whole set on one page very easily. Just cut glossy card stock and put it in the squares to stick the stamps on. I unmounted all my stamps because i fugured that if I had half and half mounted and unmounted I wouldnt use the mounted ones. I needed everything together. I have a master list I keep on my table. I love being unmounted, and being able to use see through acrylic blocks...:-D
HTH
I plan to unmount everything that is non-SU or retired-SU except alphabets (& MAYBE 2 step stamps, haven't decided on this yet). I have 11 sets done (about 3 million to go :rolleyes: )
I do the same so far. If I find that I really prefer the unmounteds, I may go ahead and umount the SU stamps as well. So far, I really love how I can align unmounted stamps nearly perfectly.
Amy
I just tried unmounted stamps from TAC, and I enjoyed the first few times I used them. I don't know if I will unmount all my SU stamps, but I know in the future that space is going to be an issue so it would be wise for me to do so.
I thought I would be too lazy for unmounteds, but that didn't seem to be the case, I just have a good number of acrylic blocks (bought at half price with TAC hostess benefits) and it is kinda fun.
My favorite thing was using a larger acrylic block and putting some different paisley and small flower stamps together to make a great background image. It took no time to stamp up my background.
__________________ Kristina Wife, Mommy, Stamper, Nurse Laura 6yo Jack 5yo, James 4/20/08 Megan arrived 3/16/09
I am leaning towards a mix. I just recently tried going umnmounted with a few of my sets from the summer mini and I love it. I have found them easy to use and have had no problems so far. My only current dilemma is trying to figure out how I want to store my unmounted stamps. I do not think that I will go back and unmount my 100+ stamp sets that I already own....but I am going to not mount any new stamps that I order from here on out. I will save the blocks,case and sticker sheet so if I want to sell them or mount them later I can.
I sold my wood mounted stamps (didn't ever use them since they had to be stored somewhere besides my tiny desktop - not enough space) so I'm all for unmounted rubber with acrylic blocks, all the way baby! LOL It only takes about 2 seconds to slap stamp on a block and vice versa. And I have a CD tower full of stamp sets that takes up one tiny corner of my desktop.
And if you love wood mounted stamps but not the price, you can always buy umounted rubber stamps, slap them on wooden blocks, and you STILL come out ahead! LOL
I have decided to unmount my alphabets so I can form words or phrases with them more easily. Then I will decide about the rest as I go. I kind of like the wood mounting, but they do take up a lot of space.
__________________ Proud Air Force Wife Andi Wrenn
When I first started out, I wanted to make sure that I liked the UM system, so I used an UM method on my new sets. Now that I see how much storage I am saving, I'm working on UM everything I own.
I'm leaving the Michaels $1 stamps on the blocks- too hard to get off the wood, and that's what I let the kids play with when they want to "help" me.
although they took up less space I really hated the issue of having to remount them each time, having to look upside down and backwards to see what images were, and not being able to just pull them out to stamp with my daughter..
I had a similar problem in figuring out which way was up too, especially for the word/sentiments stamps. That's why now I stamp the image with Stazon ink on the grafix, or the EZ mount first. Now I can see the index image right through the block- no guessing which way is up.
Did you unmount all your wood mounted stamps?
