Clear stamps are known by several different names. As well as being interchangeably called acrylic or clear acrylic stamps, you’ll also often hear them referred to as polymer or photo-polymer stamps or even as clear rubber stamps. They all fall under the heading of clear stamps.
Some of their basic features are:
1. They are almost completely transparent when you first purchase them.
2. They are slightly tacky which allows them to be stuck to an acrylic block for use.
3. They are stored on a backing sheet or in some kind of a protective container such as a CD jewel case.
4. They are sold individually or on a sheet containing several images.
5. Unlike rubber stamps that are sold both trimmed and untrimmed – they are always sold ready to use.
The first thing you need to do when you first get your acrylic stamps is to condition them. This can be done by gently rubbing a white eraser all over the surface to remove any factory residue. This helps ensure that your stamp “takes” the ink, and that you stamped images are clear and crisp.
The next thing you need to know is how to clear acrylic sheet 8mm correctly remove your clear stamp from the backing sheet or the storage container to avoid stretching or tearing of your stamp. DO NOT grab the stamp by one end and pull it off the backing sheet – this will lead to stretching and tearing. Instead, gently grasp it, lift a little, then reposition your fingers so that they are close to the backing sheet, lift a little more, reposition your fingers, lift a little more…until you have removed the stamp.
Once you have your stamp, you need to attach it to an acrylic block prior to stamping. Acrylic blocks come in a variety of different sizes, shapes and styles. Make sure you choose something that is as close in size to your stamp as possible – you want it to be a little larger than the stamp.
The best way to attach the stamp to the protective block is to gently place or drop the stamp face down on your paper in front of you. You can then gently press your acrylic block to the stamp back. By doing it this way, you ensure that you preserve the shape of the stamp. Clear stamps are very flexible and it’s easy to accidentally distort the shape of the image when you place it on your block.
You then either gently tap your stamp onto your ink pad, or dab your ink pad onto your stamp depending on the size of your stamp and ink pad, and your preference, and then stamp as normal.
