Artistic Stamps - What's A Good Way Make Them Ink Free?

Just experimenting with rubberstamps for awhile, chances are you have had the unfortunate experience of accidentally forgetting to clean of your favorite stamp, the one you just stamped up with a dark blue stamp pad, and began inking it up on a nice light colored stamp pad...Yuck! It only takes one mistake to scar a lightly colored ink pad, and the only way to cure it is to clean your stamps thoroughly. But...what is the proper way to clean your rubber stamps?

Art rubber stamps don't need to be cleaned between your stamping if you plan on using the same dyes with that craft stamp again before switching. Don't get so overworked with cleaning the rubber stamps that you don't love using them. You can always place a stamp face down on a wet paper towel to keep the ink, dye, or paint moist until you can clean the stamp when you are finished. Don't forget that some inks will permanently seep into the rubber texture and will not come out...no matter what kind of cleaning solution is used! Before reusing your craft stamp make sure you use a white paper towel to test stamp and ensure that the ink is removed. Many a papercrafter has believed the art rubber stamp was simply stained by the ink only to find out that some ink or cleaner remained and inadvertently ended up ruining another ink pad.

In order to start cleaning you stamp, the first step is to dab off the excess dye on the stamp on a scrap piece of cardstock. This will keep your cleaning supplies from getting more inked up than they need to be.

Another way to clean art stamps, and one of the fastest, is to use alcohol free baby wipes. Alcohol free baby wipes work perfectly because they are disposable and just damp enough to clean off the ink. Some stampers like to use a paint cleaner to get the grooves of the stamp die clean. Be careful if using a brush because you don't want to splash ink all over your stamp project!Make sure the brush bristles are very soft since you don't want to scratch your stamp while cleaning it.

No matter how you decide to clean your stamps, make sure you don't use harsh solvents to clean your art stamps since they can ruin the labels. Don't put your rubber stamps under water...this will cause the labels, adhesive, and rubber to come apart eventually. If you decide to use a commercial window cleaner, make sure you don't use one containing ammonia as that can be harmful.

Kathy Williams is a rubber art crafter who loves working withart rubberstamps.

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