ok, so i've been using the amber Gorilla Glue to stick my stamps to their foam backings since i started. read about it here on the boards. Why? well, since i found a series in NY state that had used contact cement and they were all sliding off their backings after being exposed to moisture over the long haul, and i didn't want that to happen, i took the advice i found and all of my stamps have held up well.

The process goes like this:
1. Get a foam door knocker from a craft store (they're thicker). i dont' use wood because it warps in boxes around here over the winter.

2. cut out the stamp from its medium.

3. spread a thin THIN layer of Gorilla Glue on the back (note to all after yesterday: NEVER use your finger, ALWAYS use a popsicle stick or toothpick as i had been doing)

4. stick stamp to foam door handle. Weight down and leave it alone for 24 hours. No, it doesn't bubble out all over the place if you only use a thin layer. Yes it does if you use too much.

5. When it's dry, cut out your stamp with an exacto knife. Voila!

Does it look like a professionally mounted Kirbert stamp? No. On the other hand, it will survive a New England winter without warping or coming apart. Learned all this from the friend who taught me to box. . .

~tigs the crafty person today (whose fingers still look unwashed and shiny)

that had used contact cement and they were all sliding off their backings after being exposed to moisture

Does anyone know whether this happens if you use the "permanent" method of rubber cement (i.e., apply to both items, let dry, then attach).

I'd love to use rubber cement instead of super glue. Super glue has the unfortunate problem that if you use about half the container, the rest becomes a brick. And they don't really give the stuff away.

[._.]

I have used Gorilla Glue very successfully on the rubber. I use it to glue the stamp to a foam back. I use it sparingly and then it doesn't bubble up, and smear it ever so carefully with a popsicle stick as thin as possible. I also tend to score the back of my stamp with a gouge before applying the glue. If you get the Gorilla Glue on the face of the stamp it makes it very shinny and changes the properties for inking.

My family was quite amused when I gorilla glued my lips shut. (OK, to be accurate, half shut.) Now I can only talk out of ONE side of my mouth and will never get elected.

Does anyone know whether this happens if you use the "permanent" method of rubber cement (i.e., apply to both items, let dry, then attach).

There are two similar looking products; Rubber Cement and Contact Cement. Rubber cement is probably what a previous boxer was talking about when she said that she found that it slides all over the place. The label even states that the product will soften or dissolve over time. Contact cement is the kind you put on both surfaces, wait 20 minutes and then stick them together. I've always used Contact cement for backing my stamps and it WILL NEVER come apart and I mean ever, even one second after you stick both sides together. I live in NH so that's a pretty good test of the elements. My oldest plant has been out there for six years with no problems.

The reason I know this is because I bought and used Rubber cement accidentally and couldn't figure out why I could adjust the foam backing freely after sticking the two sides together.

This stuff has very toxic fumes though, be careful not to "huff."

Thanks for the information! I have a bottle of contact cement around here somewhere that I can try the next time I mount a stamp.

Contact cement is the kind you put on both surfaces, wait 20 minutes and then stick them together.

You can do that with rubber cement too. It makes the bond more permanent; you can't re-position the two pieces after you've made a contact this way. A lot of brands don't give you these directions on the bottle, they only give the semi-permanent removable directions.

[._.]

There are two similar looking products; Rubber Cement and Contact Cement. This stuff has very toxic fumes though, be careful not to "huff."

Very true, JESS. Contact cement is what they use for formica countertops, and if its done right, they don't come undone. And the fumes are very potent! They do make a water-based contact cement these days, which is far less fumy, but in my experience, it does not hold up anywhere near as well. With the possibility of dampness in our neck of the woods, it probably wouldn't hold up as well anyway.

I'm curious as to how the poly gorilla glue will do over a long period of time - it might make sense to use the solvent based contact cement over the poly glue, only because even cured, contact cement still remains slightly "rubbery", whereas the poly glue becomes solid. The bond of poly glue for wood, as Kirbert said, is fantastic. Perhaps both will hold up just as well.

I made a note of this page, tigs! ;)

I use a spray can of headliner adhesive. I think I read about it in Kirbert's tutorials. It has worked great so far (about a year now) here in Texas. I haven't gone back to check all my boxes in that time but I have seen enough to know it is holding up well in 110 degree heat and with boxes in high humidity locations. I also used it on my sig stamp with no issues noticed so far. I mount my stamps (pink stuff) onto 1/4" think sheet foam from Stampeaz and Michaels, no wood layer although I have thought about adding 1/4" plywood with the foam layer in between.

Just a word to the wise - although in TX it might be different, but plywood probably isn't the best option - it'll delaminate over time if its out in the weather. Our weather being cooler and more damp it definately is not a good idea, but the heat might affect it down there - not sure. A thin piece of hardwood would be better, or even a 1/4 thick piece of acrylic. Or, just stick with the foam - that's what alot of the people up our way do, and so far so good...

So far I have only used plywood on my son's sig stamp. All my other stamps are foam-backed only. I have seen one boxer locally using ceramic/porcelain floor tile material.

one local boxer here uses Skulpy (sp). She molds the backing, then bakes them, then glues them in when they're done. They come out really nice, actually.

~tigs (who REALLY cant' spend all night online, because she has too much to DO)

Just loop a piece of string through punched holes and tie it. Works better than the binder ring anyway. And won't rust.

Don't ever use rubber cement. It's for paper.

And the key to using contact cement, besides making sure to wait for it to fully dry before putting the pieces together, is to use good contact cement! The commonly-available stuff won't hold up to the heat of summer, even when applied correctly. That's why I use headliner cement, available in a spray can at auto parts stores. It is contact cement, but it's really good contact cement, it'll hold up a headliner in a sunny Walmart parking lot.

Whether or not your stamps slide apart does depend on a couple of other things, though. The headliner cement works great on pink stuff and orange PZ Kut, but it won't hold the white erasers that we could buy from Dollar Tree a few years ago. Something in the Dollar Tree erasers just ate right through the glue.

I really only use headliiner cement to bond pink stuff to pipe insulation foam these days, and for that it's perfectly reliable.

Oh, and about super glue -- the stuff comes in smaller tubes now. I mean, seriously, the tubes were never large, but now instead of buying one tube that's the size of a thimble, you can get a package of a dozen tubes that add up to a thimble. They are deliberately one-use-only, use a tube for whatever you're doing and throw it away, we all know that whatever's left in that tube will be a rock the next time you need the stuff.

Yeah, I agree, don't ever use plywood. Been there, done that. The only wood you should ever consider for backing a stamp is hardwood (oak, walnut, etc.) and at least 1/4" thick.

Funny thing is, I don't really understand why anyone would use anything else. 1/4" thick oak is available at Home Depot or Lowe's, and it's so cheap it's not even worth the discussion. Two bucks will buy you enough to back a couple of dozen stamps.

In one of the tutorials Goop was recommended. I can't find that tutorial right now, but it's not in "Stamp Carving 101".

Does anyone know how Goop holds up because my stamps haven't had a winter yet.

I have all kinds of scraps of hardwood left over from various jobs, and haven't had to buy a single piece yet. If you know a carpenter, ask them for some hardwood scraps. Any hardwood should do - oak, maple, mahogany, poplar, walnut. I would not advise using softwoods like spruce, pine, douglas fir, balsam - more likely to absorb water and warp or split. Alot of pallets are made with hardwood as well, albeit is usually rough, but a little cutting and sanding will give you hundreds of stamp backings. Just make sure it is hardwood.

Also, if you use wood, you can make it last even longer by sealing the wood with something. I would recommend gluing the stamp first to the raw wood - the glue will bond better and act as a sealer itself on the wood it touches. What I've done is stamped the image on the block of wood first, then glued it and let that dry. Then I wrapped masking tape around the outer edge of the stamp, but left the wood exposed. Then I've sprayed the wood with laquer which dries quick and doesn't affect the inked image on the wood. I haven't tried polyurethane yet, which would definately seal the wood, probably better than the laquer, but not sure if the solvents would affect the ink. Sealing the wood all around will help keep moisture out of it, thereby helping prevent any warping or splitting.

I started by using "Shoe Goo" which is made by Goop as well, then have been using Goop. So far all has been well, but I haven't had any through a winter yet, so I'm waiting to see as well.

You can find sheets of thick foam at Joann fabrics and sometimes at some Michaels. Then you can skip the door knocker thingys. I also slash the back of the stamp like Freddy Krueger so the glue can penetrate; makes a firmer hold.

ok, where are you finding the sheets of thick foam at Joann's and Michael's? i'm prowling the same stores as you, gmh and i'm only finding the really thin ones. Hence, i'm buying the packs of door knockers - which is kinda cool; you get a lot of different colors that way. . .

~ tigs

Would anybody be interested in carving a stamp to donate for a murder mystery event that we will be having in March? Here is a link to the event so that you can see what is needed and what we already have. Thank you bunches for your consideration!

I would REALLY love to carve Agatha Christie for RDHG's Birthday Murder Mystery event but have never done a portrait type carve; only line drawings. Does anyone have any tips on how they do it or a good tutorial they can point me in the direction of?

Event link: http://www.atlasquest.com/showinfo.html?gEventId=2330

Thanks bunches.

Just loop a piece of string through punched holes and tie it. Works better than the binder ring anyway. And won't rust.

True! and basically, duh. haha Sometimes I just can't think of the simplest solutions.

Check out SHH's profile page for her website/blog. She is a great portraitist and really sweet :) I have trouble with eyes. Her advice is to start with the eyes because if you don't get them right and leave them til the end you might end up starting over anyway.

Thanks, Sarcasmo. I actually just happened on her blog the other day, and now work has it blocked. :(

I just edit the photo into something I can carve. I use www.picnik.com for the most part. It's free. Upload the photo. Click on the tab 'effects'. Scroll down to 'sandbox effects'. Then use the 'adjustable threshhold' effect. You can adjust the light and dark. There's also an option for 'pencil sketch' which can work sometimes. www.fotoflexer.com is another free photo editor that is pretty good. They actually have a 'ink stamp' option. If you go to advance options after clicking on it, you can adjust the light and dark.

Check out hart x6's tutorial/blog

I'm embarrassed to admit how long I used binder rings before I thought of using string. In fact, I may be the one who suggested binder rings to one and all in the first place.

Her advice is to start with the eyes because if you don't get them right and leave them til the end you might end up starting over anyway.

The problem with this theory is that you don't know whether they came out right or not until you ink it up and stamp it the first time -- and you generally don't want to be doing that until the stamp is finished anyway.

I recommend starting with the difficult parts -- eyes or whatever -- but only because I seem to have the most patience right at the start; I sometimes get increasingly hasty as I carve. Sometimes it does help to carve one or two simple cuts first, though, just to get comfortable and focussed on what I'm doing.

Doing the difficult stuff first is also good because the rubber itself is solid and responds predictably. Once it has cuts all over it, it sometimes will flex in ways you don't expect it to when cutting.

I'll carve something--let me decide and I'll let you know.