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I find that large stamps like background stamps really need the cushion to get a good impression.
I use a red sponge cushion and Aleene's Tack It Over & Over. I prefer this cushion to EZ Mount. It is easier to cut and doesn't get my scissors all gunky.
I do have a large acrylic block for my background stamps.
I leave mine naked rubber and use them face-up on my stamping pad. I ink it up and lay the cardstock on it, roll my brayer over it (one direction only or it smears), then carefully lift the cardstock off. That's the only way I got a consistent image before I unmounted them, so I just do it that way now, too. I store them in the new DVD cases (three will fit in each).
Interesting...never thought of doing that. I just unmounted a wheel so it has no foam I will try it tonight and see if I like it. I know I can fit at least 2 in a DVD case but putting 3 in would be cool.
Thanks
Larger stamps like that are the one exception for unmounting for me. I have found that the original mounting tends to give a much cleaner impression. That being said, I have a number of them I bought UM so I pad them with fun foam, using rubber cement (wet to wet) then use double stick tape on my acrylic block. Like Sue, I find that larger stamps tend to do better if you put the paper to the stamp rather than the other way around.
The red cushion I use can be found on my website. You can click the link below my signature.
Some of the first stamps I used were from TAC. They sold their stamps unmounted and it came with this red sponge cushion. I have used it ever since. I tried jumping on the EZ Mount bandwagon but it just didn't do it for me. EZ Mount is much more popular. It also requires one less step since one side is adhesive to stick your rubber die to. The other side is smooth and will stick to your acrylic block. The red sponge cushion had adhesive on one side and then requires you to add adhesive to the other. This is where I apply the Aleene's Tack It Over & Over. You can also use 3M removeable poster tape. Another product that will not gunk up your block with adhesive.
A lot of people do not like to remove cushion from their background stamps. But I hated the foam and the extra bulk it created.
When I was unmounting my rubber stamps, I wasn't always getting great impressions from my big stamps anyway. Because of this they were going unused and I thought "what do I have to lose". I went ahead and unmounted the background stamps as well. I'm glad I did as I now get consistently good results.
Two methods I find work very well:
First, as mentioned by a previous poster, place the die facing up and ink it well with a brayer. Then lay the paper on top, then brayer over the top. For this method, use a firm surface.
Second, my favorite method is with the die attached to a clear block. Place 2layers of craft foam under your card or where you want to stamp. Again, ink die well with a brayer. Press the stamp down firmly and evenly on to the card. I usually do this standing up over my work area. The foam under the card really helps push the die into good contact with the surface being stamped.
Close to My Heart makes a block big enough for the background stamps, but you can improvise with a DVD case or similar. If you do the face-up method like katz_r_us and I do, then you don't need a block...
Interesting...never thought of doing that. I just unmounted a wheel so it has no foam I will try it tonight and see if I like it. I know I can fit at least 2 in a DVD case but putting 3 in would be cool.
Thanks
If you do like it this way you could store quite a few in the actual SU plastic case, that one background stamp came in.
I'll follow this thread to see if I want to unmount my backgrounds. I already did all of my other SU stamp sets.
I am considering unmounting mine, because they take up so much room. I already have unmounted Hero Arts cling and Cornish Heritage Farm cling ones. They take up so little room.
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SU also carries a block large enough, it's block "F".
I'm going all unmounted from here on out....except for background stamps, at least for now. I'm afraid I won't get a good impression and I just kind of like my BGS the way they are...mounted I mean. I suppose I should get one UM and see how I like it....because I could probably buy more if the UM are cheaper....right???:-)
I used a large block with Tack N Peel on it. I always stamp with a foam stamping pad (from Darice), so I get a good stamped image. The large block did take a pack and a half of the Tack N Peel.
I finally decided that I am going to unmount my background stamps. I have been thinking about this for a while. I unmounted my SU sets already. Here is my plan... I am going to unmount the stamps, and put the EZ-mount on them. I want to stamp the image and laminate each one separately. Then I will store them in a open bin (itso from target) and place the laminated image in front of each stamp. I'll just have to flip through the stamps to find the image I want.
I was inspired at a stamp show recently, the lady doing a demo had hers in a box without the laminated images but I decided this would help me see the image faster.
I started pulling my stamps of of their blocks, so far so good. I can't wait to get the laminating part done.
Unmounting Background stamps
