Conditioning Your New Stamps

Conditioning Your New Stamps

I wanted to take a few minutes to talk to you about conditioning your stamps.

 When I first started stamping, I didn’t know that you had to preparing your stamps before you use them.

 I was always so frustrated the first few times I used a new stamp, because the image was faded looking. 

It got better as I used the stamp more.

Then a friend told me that I had to condition new stamps.  This image shows you what I mean:

The image on the left has been stamped with a new stamp before conditioning.  The image on the right has been stamped with the same stamp after conditioning.  

 The difference is particularly noticeable with solid images, such as this one. The un-conditioned stamp leaves a blotchy image.

 Brand new stamps have a film or residue on the rubber as a result of the manufacturing process. This prevents them from absorbing the ink. 

 Here are a few different conditioning techniques I have heard about:

1. Rub them with a rubber eraser

2. Gently sand with a Stampin' Up! Sanding Block

3. Gently sand with a nail buffer (not a nail file

4. Rub them on your jeans.

5. Condition them with Stazon Cleaner

6. Clean with Stampin' Scrub and Mist

My personal preference is to:

1. condition with Stazon Cleaner,
2. then I clean them well with Stampin' Mist

It only takes a few seconds, and the end result of a nice crisp image is well worth it  !!