With the popularity of the MISTI, many crafters and artists are interested in changing their wood mounted stamps to cling stamps. The staff at Art 'n Soul can demo the MISTI for you most any time!
I’m sure there are multiple ways to accomplish this conversion, but I will share how I do it!
1. If the rubber image doesn’t want to peel off the foam part of a wooden stamp, I put it in the microwave wood side down for anywhere from 15 to 30 seconds (As you know, microwaves vary in their intensity.) The heat loosens the adhesive and makes it easier to peel off just the rubber image. I use the EZ Mount cling foam sheets (order from ANS). Remove the liner sheet from the sticky side of the cling foam sheet, but leave the liner sheet in place on the cling side of the foam sheet for now. You can do one image at a time, or fill the cling sheet with as many rubber images as you can fit.
2. In the past, I have used scissors or craft knife to cut out the images, but it’s a sticky process that can be frustrating. I recently learned about the Walnut Hollow Professional Hot Knife (order from ANS). It comes from the wood burning craft or hobby.
3. I prepared a glass work surface by purchasing two frames at the thrift store, removing just the glass, and taping them together with strong tape along the edges. It is easier to cut out your images by using the hot knife against this glass work surface, and you don’t ruin any other surface in your home.
4. Insert the special blade into the hot knife, and plug it in. The blade will be hot, so use caution and utilize the little metal resting rack provided. Hold the knife safely on the round plastic grip, and slowly pull the knife blade around the image. The heated blade slides through the cling foam and bottom liner with great ease! More intricate stamp designs just take a little more care to cut the curves, but still WAY easier than scissors or regular craft knives.
5. Try to hold the knife blade straight up and down, so you don’t cut the edge of the foam slanted in either direction. Press firmly so the blade goes through the remaining liner sheet.
6. If you are converting a lot of images, and the blade gets a little gunky, turn off the heat, and when cool, clean with Goo Gone and/or a little steel wool.
Voila! You now have your rubber stamp image handy to use as a cling stamp with your MISTI. If you wish, you can also order a package of two replacement Hot Knife Blades from ANS.
Converting your wood stamps to cling is especially useful for getting a great impression with Distress Inks, even on water color paper, as you can re-stamp repeatedly while using the MISTI. It’s also used for easier coloring of layered stamp sets and marker coloring on stamps.
Marj will be at the demo table during the Recycled Rubber sale on August 6th, if you want to see this conversion process in person.
HASTY LACE CLASSES ARE HERE!
We are thrilled once again that Sandy Jackson is back with new Hasty Lace/Hasty Trace classes.
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| Hasty Lace/Hasty Trace Cathedral Bookmark by Sandy Jackson |
We adore Hasty Lace and Hasty Trace, and are so thrilled to have new classes and new templates from Sandy Jackson at Some Assembly Required. Sandy makes many of these new things just with us in mind, because we are always begging her for new things.
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| Hasty Lace/Hasty Trace Cube by Sandy Jackson |
One of the new things we are looking forward to learning from Sandy is how to color the backs of our Hasty Lace projects to make them look even more amazing! Sandy will share here research into the best colored pencils to use and the best techniques. It is not to late to get a seat in these classes!
Besides the Hasty Lace/Hasty Trace classes this year, Sandy has made the most amazing kits for us. There are 4 different kits, and it is so hard for us to photograph these kits in such a way to show you how fabulous they are. We have tried, but we hope you will come in and see them for yourselves. We will have them in the store on Saturday along with a Hasty Lace/Hasty Trace trunk show.
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| Hasty Lace/Hasty Trace Cathedral Kit |
Besides templates, Sandy has dies to match so that you can make these shapes yourselves! These dies are not in the kits, but are available separately.
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| One of the new templates (less than 2" square) |
Sandy is bringing kits, dies and a whole trunk show of her templates with her on class day, tomorrow, July 30th. Even if you don't come to the classes, you can come to the trunk show and stock up on Sandy's fabulous templates and kits. If you don't know what Hasty Lace is about, but would like to know, we would love to show you.
OMG, I've been using the hot knife to cut the cling cushion for YEARS! Glad you just discovered it. Yep, way easier than using scissors. If you still have some adhesive on the back of your rubber, you can take it off by scrubbing at it with UnDu and the scraper cap that comes with it. You can also use the UnDu to clean off your glass plate (which I've also been using for years) as you'll get little bits of cling stuck to it. When trimming the cushion, I put the bits that are cut off on the liner paper that's no longer needed. You might also want to crack a window (if possible) as the burning cushion can get a bit smelly. From Laura Pervier
ReplyDeleteHi Laura! Thanks for your tips! Yes, we know that this method has been around for awhile, but since the advent of the MISTI tool, we wanted to share it now. Lots of people want to convert their wood stamps to cling so they can be used in their MISTI.
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