Hello there! Thank you for joining us today at The Papercrafting Magazine for a picture heavy, yet very effective way how to clean your photopolymer stamps AKA clear stamps.
Photopolymer stamps stain easily, which is part of their chemical makeup. A lot of our stamp images on the market now involve line art, solid images, or multi-layered stamps … and this is why it’s important to keep them as clean as possible; the cleaner your images are, the easier is to align or realign your images for perfect placement.
Fussy colors, such as red, blue, and purple with water-based ink is challenging to remove. Permanent, pigment, Distress, etc., have their own chemical properties, all of which require formulated ink removers.
I’ve found a way to work around that without damaging or breaking down the compound of your photopolymer stamps.
This is how clean I got my photopolymer stamp after stamping it for the first time in a berry color.
You have to work quick to make it work using one industry product and a household product + a sink.
The above is where I re-inked and stamped the clean image again onto 120 lb white cardstock.
This is what my image looked like after I stamped it. It’s a bit messy.
After I stamped the image, I immediately took it to my kitchen sink and lightly rubbed it over a bit of Staz-On remover for permanent ink, took my kitchen sponge to do a teensy scrub, then used household dish soap under a warm faucet to remove the rest of the ink.
And again, below is the end result.
In full disclosure, Staz-On is not recommended for photopolymer stamps; however, I have not experienced any stamp breakdown to date.
I hope you enjoyed today’s quick tip.
