Believe it or not, your brand new shiny stamps need a little attention before you start using them. Brand new photopolymer stamps will look shiny and slick – just what you’d THINK you’d want. You don’t. You want the stamp to hold ink well, and fresh out of the package they will have a bit of a coating from the manufacturing process. This can make it difficult to get a sharp image. So you need to “season” new stamps to get them to perform their best.
There are a number of popular ways to do this. I know some people lightly go over their new stamps with a buffing block or lightly sand them. Personally, I have always been nervous about possibly damaging the stamp that way, so this is NOT a method I suggest.
My favorite two ways to season a new stamp are simple. The first is just grab some junk paper and start stamping! Repeated stamping and re-inking the stamp will gradually wear down that glossy coating. Your stamped images will improve after several impressions. The fun part of this method is you get familiar with the stamp without ruining a real project – you’re just using it and figuring out how much pressure you need, how the image will truly look, etc. The downside is that it can take several times of stamping to get the stamp fully ready to use, and that does mean using up some ink.
My personal go-to for seasoning a new stamp is to mount it to a clear block, and just rub the stamp against my palm (or just my thumb, if it’s small). That’s it. Just your palm will gently remove that slick coating. Look closely at the stamp. Once it looks cloudy, it’s ready to hold that ink!
This is a good time to explain the difference between clear photopolymer stamps and acrylic stamps. You may find some clear stamps that are VERY inexpensive, but be cautioned: Most of those are actually made from acrylic material. That is designed to SHED liquid – which means your ink will never apply evenly. It will bead up and give you a blotchy effect, which we certainly don’t want!
Sometimes new stampers are alarmed when the stamp set they just invested in is stained right away after just a couple of uses. That is OKAY. It is the nature of the material in good quality photopolymer stamps to absorb some dye. Clean them, but don’t fret over a stain! They will continue to work perfectly fine.
So just remember, while that brand new stamp looks lovely with a shiny finish, you need to get rid of it if you want your stamped images to look their best!
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