how to get that perfect stamp?

I am having a heck of a time getting my stamps to transfer to the paper without having the little square around the stamp show up too. If I only press down lightly on the ink pad, then all I get is a faded stamp, but if I press down harder to get enough ink on the pad, then I get the square around it. This is with brand new ink pads. And I am trying to press down firmly in the middle of the stamp without rolling it around, but I still get that stupid square. How do I solve this problem?

Maybe I need to re ink my stamp pads. Where do you buy the ink to do this? I have looked at the local craft store and don't see it, and I have typed in "ink" in this site, but which stuff is it that I need? Does it come in a bottle and what is it called?

Try using a stamping pad under the paper your stamping on.

This may sound drastic, but this is what I have done. On some stamps there is that square you talked about and I take an exacto knife and trim around the stamped design, then peel off the excess rubber. It gives less of a chance of an 'edge' to leave around the design you DO want. Be careful tho, take your time trimming as you don't want to damage the design. Now if the rubber is loose you may be able to peel the whole thing off the block or foam or whatever it's mounted to. Then you can trim with a good sharp scissor, again being careful not to damage the design itself.
This is just how I have solved this problem for me, it may not be for you. Possibly you need to re-ink the stamp pad as you said already.
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If the ink pad is new this should not be the problem. It depends what your ink pad is called for what bottle of refill you would need. If it says 'dye ink' then that is the type of ink you need to re-ink with, if it is 'pigment ink' then you need pigment ink, There are newer inks out there with different names but most are either pigment or dye ink. Some manufacturers have their own websites to buy ink or ink pads, some are on e-bay, some come from places like stampin-up or close to my heart. But if you have the right kind of ink you can use any brand but may have a color mix going on if is a different brand. Get what I mean? I hope I am not confusing you, but feel free to ask more questions if you have some, OK? I love to stamp and am happy to help when I can!

Ink your stamp don't stamp your ink! and if you are using red rubber you need to trim them nice and tight to the image... to stop the haloing... if it is clear stamps wipe it off before you stamp it

I put me stamps flat on the table and then ink them. I ink em step by step instead of everything at once. Often (especially with clear stamps) it looks like you dont have enough ink on them while you actually do. Also, I've found out that you need to find a good balance between firmly and gently pressing on the paper. It also differs between stamps. You can wipe the excessive ink off the corners before you stamp.

I've had the same problem until I found baby wipes! I use them to wipe off the outer edges before stamping, or a wet Q-tip if close to image.
Or put a pad of paper under your card before stamping, this just gives it more cushion to get the image and not the edges.

After messing up some images - I started using baby wipes to wipe around the edges before stamping - works great for me.

im with PRITTB, i keep a babywipe handy and wipe off excess. i keep them handy also if i just want to stamp a partial stamp or doing two colors on one stamp. wow, look at me...giving advise.

Like someone said ink the stamp not stamp the stamp into the pad. also the baby wipe or qtip works the other thing is to make sure your ink pad is damp but not wet.

When you use a q-tip,do you wet it at all? If so, what do you wet it with?

• catzscrapper Said:

Like this idea! Thanks for the tip! I have this problem as well.

i was having the same problem until i bought a mat. it's a foam 12 x 12 mat that is used for making the stamped image stamp evenly on the page. they sell them in most stores, i've seen a pink one in walmart. but i bought mine from archiver's, and it's blue.

I agree with using a foam mat when you stamp. It allows you to stamp evenly without applying too much pressure, thus eliminating the halo effect. I also ink the stamp as mentioned in the previous responses and it works wonderfully.

Good luck!

I heard somewhere that if you're using a mounted stamp that it's best to do it on a hard surface. If you're using a clear stamp or any other stamp that you'd put on a block, put something underneath it for padding.

Fiskars makes a stamping tool that is wonderful. I think it is called the Stamp press. It puts even pressure on the stamp. I see that it is on sale in the superstore this week.

I love all the ideas I have read here. I too have had this problem and have ruined many images by getting ink overages. I have trimmed stamps and that takes care of the edges, but I've had stamps do it on open spaces in the stamp as well. I like the idea of using a foam pad and baby wipes. I'm gonna have to get some baby wipes. Great idea.