Newbie Stamping questions

I'm relatively new here and have found these forums really helpful, so thanks everyone for contributing your expertise!

Now on to my questions:
A few years ago before I was completely into scrapbooking I purchased a set of clear stamps and the acrylic block to go with them. I bought them at Michaels, and I paid a lot for them, so I think they were a good brand (I'm not at home so I can't check the brand). They came in a little clear plastic envelope that you store them in. I just cracked them open to use them last week and I found that when I spelled my DD's name out, the letters were too far apart. Do you have to trim the letters to get them to fit closer together, or are they supposed to stay far apart?

My second question is about ink. I think I have Prism ink (I had no idea what I was doing when I bought them, I just knew I needed ink) and I find it comes out really light when I stamp the image. Maybe I just need to practice, but I couldn't seem to get it to look like anything other than a watermark. Maybe my ink colour is too light? I have a package of ink that has shades of pink and purple all in one package, and I tried all of them. Maybe the ink is too old... I did buy it a few years ago.

Which brings me to my third question... how do you get the ink onto the stamp when the stamp is bigger than the ink pad (each colour of ink pad is quite small). What I did was I pressed the stamp onto the pad, while holding the pad upside down, then moved it carefully around on the surface of the pad until the whole image was covered. The ink pad wasn't very wet though, so I had to press fairly hard. The more I write, the more I think maybe my ink pad is dried out. Thoughts anyone? Any recomendations for ink that makes a dark crisp image? I've read the article about inks on this site, but never having stamped before, it was hard to follow.

If the letters are too far apart, you may have to stamp them individually. With acrylic stamps and the clear block, you can see precisely where you want to put them and can get them close together. If you're not sure how they'll come out, don't stamp directly on your layout. Do it on another piece of a smaller size and adhere that piece to your layout.

I agree with you that your ink may be dried out. You can buy a reinking liquid that will bring it back to life. Before you do that, make sure you're stamping with a piece of foam under your paper. That helps the image to come out clearer.

You can move your ink pad over the stamps instead of the other way around.

Hope this helps! HTH

Thank you so much! It seems so obvious, but it never occurred to me that I should try stamping one letter at a time... duh! That will get the look I want. I will also look into reinking my inkpads.

What kind of foam would I use under my paper? Thanks for all the tips.

Ink - Could be one of 3 problems. 1) the ink color is too light, 2) the ink is dried up (try a reinker or a diff. pad), or 3) your stamps need to be "seasoned". If the ink looks like it's beading up on your stamps, take a white eraser and rub over your stamps. (You can also do this with very fine sandpaper.) It removes the residue or whatever from brand new stamps--some clear stamps need this done and some don't.

As for stamping on foam, I use a mousepad.

When the stamp is bigger than the ink pad, turn the block upside down and set it on your table. Then tap the ink pad down onto all the parts so you can see what's being inked and what's not (you can also see if the ink is beading up this way). I'm really guessing this (the ink beading up) is your problem, since a lot of brands do this right away and I've had a bunch of ink pads for years and years that have never dried up.

• scraprabbit Said:

ditto

I do trim the stamps when they have too much acrylic all around the letters.

Thanks for all the suggestions everyone! Now that you guys mentioned the ink beading on the stamp, I think that IS what was happening. I won't get to check it until Friday night, but I'll let you know how it goes when I do get to pull out my supplies.

The BEST ink I've found for dark, crisp images is Staz On Ink Pads. It takes a while to dry, though, you'll have to leave it for a little before you colour or do anything on top of it. But, it's also waterproof, so you can use watercolour pencils or paints with the stamps.

I just wanted to thank everyone for your suggestions and tips. The ink WAS beading up on my stamps, and once I went over it with a white eraser it stamped much better. I also discovered that one of my inks just stamps a little less crisp than the newer ones I bought last week. I made a note of it on the ink pad container so I will remember in the future. It actually might look better that way for some applications.

I practiced this weekend using all the tips given here. Stamping the ink pad to the stamp was really helpful too. Now I'm all set to stamp... I just have to get up the guts to use them in a LO.

Yeah! Glad you got it solved. Here's a tip too if you are scared to stamp right on your lo. Stamp on a transparency and put the transparency on your lo to see if you like how it looks or to get it lined up properly, then stamp on your lo. If you use dye ink you can just wipe or rinse the ink off the transparency and reuse it later. Or you can stamp your image on another paper and adhere that instead of stamping right on your lo.

I am a Stampin' Up demonstrator, and sometimes it just takes practice. Lots and lots of practice. If you ever needs some tips, feel free to PM me. I try to check this our daily but unless I get a PM sometimes I just don't have the time.

Welcome to the neighbor hood...Good luck and happy Scrapping!

the clear stamps should peal off and you put it on the clear block...the block will get even amount of ink on your stamp onto the paper. i thought at first that you had to cut them out but then found out you just peal them off. they just stick to the block

dabbing the ink on will produce a darker image than wiping the ink on too.

Wonderful advice here, just wondering if you have any stamping demonstrators near you. Maybe a Close to my Heart representative or something similar? If they have a stamp camp or stamping event it might be worth checking out I think it would help you become a little more familiar with some of the techniques. There are a lot of little tricks, like the eraser to stop beading, all kinds of inks and different things. Of course we can help here but it is helpful to see in person.

Wow, thanks for all the great tips. I did a bit more stamping this weekend (made sure to rub my new snowflake stamps with an eraser first!) and it is getting easier the more I practice. I never even thought of looking for a rep in my area. So far I've been scrapping in isolation but I'm thinking about going to a few classes put on at my lss, so maybe there I can do some networking.

Try storing your ink pads upside down - it helps keep the ink at the surface. And dab the ink pad onto your stamp, rather than pressing your stamp onto the ink pad.