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Acrylic Mount Information
Acrylic mounts are generally not available through your general
craft store and may not be available at a local rubber stamp store.
More and more rubber stamp stores are selling unmounted rubber stamps
and a few of those carry acrylic mounts, but it hasn't fully caught
on. Acrylic mounts are generally between 1/4" and 3/4"
thick and come in various sizes. They should be unbreakable. It
is easiest to use a mount that just slightly larger than the rubber
stamp die. If the rubber stamp does not completely fit onto the
mount, it will not stamp properly. Also, if the mount is far larger
than the rubber stamp, it will be hard to ink without inking your
acrylic mount, which can lead to stray marks on your paper. Note:
Acrylic is heavier than the wood most commonly used for mounting
rubber stamps. Larger sized acrylic mounts can weigh up to a full
pound. We order our mounts at 1/2" thickness rather than 3/4"
thickness to minimize the weight without compromising the strength.
1/2" acrylic mounts are unbreakable.
Care and Cleaning
Harsh rubber stamp cleansers can cause crazing of acrylic, which
is a seriers of hairline cracks. If you need to clean ink of your
mounts with such cleaners, try not to do so frequently and be sure
to wash the residue off the mount with warm soapy water afterward.
Likewise, give your mounts a washing if you've gotten ink cleaner
on your mounts when cleaning your stamps while still attached to
the acrylic.
Temporary Mounting on Acrylic Blocks
The latest popular method involves applying repositional adhesive
to the backs of the dies so they can be mounted again and again
on acrylic mounts and stored on plastic 3-ring binder protector
pages or acetate. Some repositional adhesive is more tacky than
others. We've outlined which repositional adhesives work best on
acrylic mounts in our mounting techniques listed under our techniques
pages. Also visit our techniques pages for exact instructions for
temporarily mounting on acrylic mounts.
Some rubber stampers like to use double-sided poster
tape to temporarily adhere rubber dies to acrylic mounts. The tape
is normally applied directly to the mount and reused with different
stamps until it loses its tackiness. Poster tape is less tacky than
other tapes and will not stick to your mounts when you try to remove
them.
Other people are happy with the quick results obtained
by temporarily adhering a rubber die to an acrylic mount with craft
glue stick. It washes off the mount and the die with water and seems
to provide a pretty good temporary adhesion.
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