Rubber, clear and foam stamps – what is the difference between them? Every of those is manufactured from a special materials, giving every of them completely different properties. Knowing and understanding these properties will assist make sure you achieve the absolute best results in your projects.
The biggest difference between rubber or foam stamps, and clear stamps (additionally referred to as polymer or photo polymer) is that the clear, are see-by way of, permitting you to look proper by way of the stamp and see EXACTLY where you are stamping. With rubber and foam stamps, as a way to be able to stamp your image precisely where you need it, you could use a device called the Stamp-a-ma-jig.
As you get ready to stamp with your various stamps – you may discover that the components you want vary. For example, clear stamps are naturally sticky – all you have to use it is a clear acrylic block – the stamp will naturally cling to it. With rubber you want some kind of a mounting system. For example, with wood mount rubber stamps, the rubber is held to the wooden block with a self-adhesive foam. For unmounted stamps you should have some technique of holding the rubber image to the acrylic block – this can involve a cling foam, or some other adhesive system. With foam, you also need something to hold the stamp – usually these already come mounted to either a foam block or a transparent acrylic plate.
When it truly involves stamping – of the three types of stamps you will typically find that rubber stamps are the very best for fine element stamping. Now note that I said detail stamping. I’m not referring to the stamping of small images – you possibly can stamp VERY small images with acrylic stamps. The word “element” refers back to the fine shading lines you can see in certain realistic-looking stamp images. Polymer, being a a lot softer material, while you will get element, it doesn’t permit for the same kind of fine element as with rubber stamps. Foam, does not really enable for detail at all. In reality, when you see foam stamps, for probably the most part you see stable images. You may additionally discover with foam stamps that images aren’t quite as crisp – slightly than clearly defined edges, they’ll usually look a bit softer.
Another distinction is in the durability of each of the totally different materials. Rubber is by far the most durable of the materials. Taken care of properly, they will final a lifetime and even longer. With clear stamps there are a couple of things to be aware of. The primary is that not all acrylic stamps are created equally. There are high and low quality acrylic stamps. Poor quality acrylic stamps will yellow and harden over time, and even lose their cling. With all acrylic stamps – including high quality acrylic stamps – you do have to take a bit more care in dealing with them as they can be torn or stretched, and you wish to make positive you utilize them properly for finest results.
The ultimate difference – which in part pertains to durability – is what types of color mediums you can use with your totally different types of stamps. While you should utilize all the stamps with the most typical mediums, rubber stamps permit you a number of more specialty strategies than the opposite two. For example – stamping with bleach – that is something that may safely be accomplished with rubber, but not without damaging the opposite types of stamps. Even the use of Staz On – a solvent based mostly ink, is queryable when it involves clear stamps. There was some debate as to whether Staz On, or more specifically the specialty cleaner that’s used to clean Staz On, can cause long term damage to your clear stamps.
So with all of this discussion about variations – does this imply that one type of stamp is healthier than another or that I like to recommend one over the other? Definitely not. Each type of stamp has its pros and cons, and each type has it’s place in paper crafting. You just need to make sure that you simply understand the differences, and you understand the best way to properly use and care for every type.
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