UNMOUNTING STAMPS
 

I have lots of wood stamps, and not a lot of storage. Is it easy and cheap to unmount wooden stamps??

Thank you
Erin

Depends upon what you consider easy and cheap. I'm in the middle of this process and it's a lot of work.

1. Unmount the stamps, some come off easy, some don't. Those that don't you have to deal with an icky gooey mess. Some come off of the wood easy, some come off of the foam easy.

2. Stick on ez mount 1/16 or 1/8. It's like working with a jig saw puzzle trying yo get the maximum number of stamps on a sheet.

3. Cut out with either Kai (super sharp) scissors or a hot knife.

4. Figure out how to organize, i.e. categories: words, flowers, veggies, etc.
5. Decide to use CD cases or movie DVD cases, baggies, etc
6. Stamp each image that will go into storage solution. This becomes:
A. index of what is in case, front cover and
B. where the stamp goes back to, back cover
C Also becomes table of contents, when searching for a particular stamp. (You can either look at all the cd cases or flip through pages in a binder when trying to locate a stamp.)

What needs to be purchased:
Hot knife from Amazon $14.10
Clear CD cases 12 for $3.99 + Tax at Target (if you can wait order CD jewel cases and DVD movie cases from www.rima.com, cheapest)
EZ Mount 1/8" thick from ebay seller Simple Treasures Collage, 10 sheets for $31.00, (for those stamps that come off of the foam easy)
EZ Mount thin 1/16" from Sunday international $4.00 p/sheet, 5 sheets + shipping (for those stamps that don't come off the foam easy, but comes off of the wood easy)
Storage solution for all the CD and movies DVD cases you have just put all of your 300+ stamps into
Acrylic blocks in various sizes for the stamps, most of these needs to be purchased on line.

So is it easy and cheap? Depends upon what you consider easy and cheap. It's very time consuming, but once I'm finished I should have more space in my tiny 10' x 8' craft room.

P.S. Then you have to figure out what to do w/all those wood blocks!!!!

The hardest part for me was getting the rubber off the foam for a lot of non-SU stamps. My unmounting storage method is cheap. I used ugly paper to make CD envelopes that I use for storage. I used more unwanted paper to cut squares that would fit inside the CD envelopes, and "laminated" them with cheap packing tape. Then I used scotch double sided tape to stick the plain rubber to the laminated squares, and slide them inside the CD envelopes. The CD envelopes are stored in CD boxes that look like photo boxes.
I use a 50:50 Aleen's Tack it Over and Over:water on my acrylic blocks. The bare rubber sticks to the acrylic blocks no problem this way. If I think I need some cushioning, I can use a foam pad/mouse pad under the paper I'm stamping on. I have not found cushioning to be necessary yet, and my acrylic block cleans up easy when necessary with just some soap and water.
The plain rubber also makes it easy to clean the stamps. I just throw them in a container of water until I'm done stamping, and them run them under a faucet while scrubbing with a toothbrush. No wood block or cushion to damage with water!

I find that using UnDo is quick and easy to unmount stamps. I use CD or large DVD cases to store my stamps in.

Happy Stamping and Scrapping

rita

I'm cracking up with McFadden's description of the process...it truly does depend on what you consider to be cheap and easy. I might add that it is a lengthy process as well depending on the amount of time you can devote to this project. I just finished...literally on Saturday...unmounting all my stamp sets that I want to keep. There are some that I just don't use and will be going up on eBay.

I purchased my CD cases at Kmart $2.99 or at BigLots $2.49. I only had a few sets that required 2 CD cases to store...Doodle This and Cheery Chat. Even my Year Round Cheer fit in one case. All in all, including my few Bellas that I have, I used about 70 CD cases...and they fit on one small area of my large bookcase at eye view! I love it!

I purchased my EzMount off of eBay from a vendor right up the freeway. I ened up having to use 12 sheets of it so I still have 3 sheets left. ( I bought 10 then another 5).

As for indexing, I had already started that process. As I use each set, I am indexing the back of the CD case with the stamp image using StazOn and a little heat set. This way, I can tell which sets I am using a lot of...part of my new accountability to make sure I am using my stuff, not just buying more! LOL! I also have a binder that has the images on a page for each set stored in alphabetical order but that is not working for me. I think I need to organize it differently...maybe more similar to the SU catalog.

Overall, it was a costly venture...time and money wise but very worth it to me! I am so pleased with the process. I know that I wasn't eco friendly, I just threw the used blocks away. But, I did reuse the plastic containers...I decorated them and used them to either put fudge in for the holidays or I used them to put gift cards in. Some of them hung on the tree (decoration) with the gift card inside. Also, some of them I have decided to cover and use to store some of my office things (clips, etc.) and stack on a desk...I think they will look cute!

Wow! I think this is the longest post I have ever done! I hope it helps!

You can also use Aileen's tack it over and over for a temporary bond. Cheaper than the ezmount

Please read at least some of this thread...
You do NOT need EZ Mount

My explanation in there is that there is no need to remove the cushion that is already on your stamps. Leave it one and use a different method for sticking the stamps to the acrylic.
Then there are a whole bunch of gals who said something like, "Who needs cushion anyway?"
So there are lots and lots of options described in that thread.


P.S. I keep all my stamps in 3-ring binders. CD cases are way too small for my needs.

P.P.S. 8 or 10 seconds in the microwave softens the glue so the whole stamp (cushion and rubber) comes off the wood in one piece. Not necessary for every stamp but really, really works for SU!

I also just finished unmounting and have not purchased a single sheet of ezmount. My only investment were the CD cases. I put a set at a time (SU!) in the microwave for 15-20 seconds, peeled them off the wood leaving the original foam intact and placed them into a CD case. I used a labeler for the set name and also added the number of stamps in the set and place that on the "spine" of the CD case then alphabetically onto the bookcase. VERY fast, easy and pretty inexpensive I think.

I too am 99% done un-mounting my stamps.

I very quickly went from CD cases to target document boxes to a 3 ring binder (well 6 3" 3 ring binders so far and counting. lol)

I love seeing all my flowers in a couple of pages rather than digging through various sets that have a flower in them. I find I use my stamps much more this way as Im not limited to only looking at one set at a time.

Also microwaving the stamps is the EASIEST way to get the stamps off the block. I wish I had known that way earlier in the process.

I also don't use ez mount but the Aileens glue. works great. On some of them if the stamp came off with the foam still on it- I don't need to use anything at all. Its sticky enough to hold onto the transparency and my acrylic blocks.

Thank you all for your suggestions. I am taking some time off after new years and wanted to try to get my scrap stuff straightend up.....

I unmounted approx. 100 sets last winter and, for me, it was the best decision ever! I stamped all my images at the same time that I UM them, and it took approx. 15-20 minutes per set to unmount & stamp. I store my sets in CD cases (found a whole bunch of cases for 10/$1 at a Salvation Army). I do not use EZ mount on my stamps...way too much work for me! I use Tack n Peel on my acrylic blocks. Two packages of TnP did all my various size acrylic blocks with some left over.

I personally like the image on the rubber, so I used the stickers that come with SU stamps....I peeled them off the blocks and stuck them directly to the foam backing. Most stamps came off the backing very easily, but for a few I had to put them in the microwave for about 5 secs for them to release easily.

subscribing..:)

Thank you so much for posting about rima.com.... DH and I have been chasing down the CD cases and are only finding slim cases...but this website had just what we needed! :)

I totally agree that you don't need ezmount. It's a PITA and not cheap!

I do recommend using some sort of cling that will allow you to use acrylic blocks with your stamps. Something LIKE THIS.

Or for conversion kit that comes with CD-size cases perfect for stamps (no holes) and fit in regular CD holders, as well as the cling and cards to stick the stamps to, TRY THIS.

HTH!