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Group: kardkrafter Date: Fri, Sep 26, 2003 From: Beverly R. I haven't used the Sunday International mounting system, but here's what I've done: I cut out the stamp, and trim closely -- I've even used an Exacto knife for trimming things with elaborate edges. The mounting foam I've used is sticky on both sides, so I cut a piece a bit larger than the stamp, peel off the paper on one side and stick the rubber to it. I trim the excess mounting foam closely (again, you could use an Exacto knife). Then I peel off the paper on the other side of the mounting foam and apply, either to the wood mount I'm using, or to a sheet of cling vinyl (to use on the acrylic handles I have). If it's the cling vinyl, I cut the piece large enough to wrap securely around the handle to hold it well (and cling vinyl is inexpensive enough to use plenty of it), then peel the backing off the vinyl. You might try using an Exacto to trim up the edges of the stamp you've tried mounting so far. As for cleaning your scissors, try Goo Gone or the Ronsonol. Keep at it, Lorene -- I didn't do too well on my first unmounteds, either. But it's worth the effort because you save sooooooo much money! Group: kardkrafter Date: Fri, Sep 26, 2003 From: Julia Good Morning! I use the SundayInt mounting stuff and I now use a very similar product I can purchase locally for a lot less money. FIRST- If you can get the acrylic mounts free, by all means do that! I do prefer the ones that are polished on the edges and also that are curved in on two sides- makes it much easier to grip. It is very helpful to have a variety of sizes of acrylic and use the size most appropriate to the size of the rubber. I even have 2 of some sizes which is useful if you are playing with several stamps at a time. With the SundayInt stamp sheets which I purchased, it is imperitive that I store these mounted on a storage sheet in the bag with the printed paper images- mine have many "pairs" that need to be kept together- Eyes, Legs, Right/Left images and the like. I don't use their storage sheet- you will find other free stuff that works as well. I use glossy cardboard- but not all glossy stuff will work, you will need to experiment. REMEMBER, those free AOL CD's work beautifully for storage of the stamps! These can be stored in one of those portable CD cases. My local stamp store also sells for $1 each 8-1/2x11 sheet, thin acrylic sheets that you can put your stamps on & put in file folders- works nice! I FIRST cut the rubber image closely just like in the email from Beverly- use the exacto if you like for very fancy edges. It is most important to keep your cut vertical, not on a slant so as to never undercut the rubber. NEXT I put the rubber onto the sticky side of the foam as close to edge of foam as I can. I then cut it out of the sheet of foam. Then I trim the foam close to the rubber, again be sure your cut is vertical. If necessary, leave a tiny sticky foam margin around the rubber - you can dust it with a bit of talcum to get rid of the sticky on the margin. I ALWAYS trim the rubber first and use the least amount of foam I can- the foam is expensive. You will find if you are stingy with the foam, you can generally mount the entire 8-1/2 x 14 sheet of rubber on the 8-1/2 x 11 foam. Remember though that I now do buy a similar foam product locally more cheaply. You can buy this also- contact me privately & I will give you an email contact. You will find it easier to make a cleanly cut edge on the rubber by cutting using the blade edge closest to the "hinge" of the scissors rather than using the tip. If I use the tip I find the cuts are short and little straight cuts rather than a curve. I use the tips to cut little "v"s where necessary. If you have large blank areas in the center of the image, you may want to remove those using your exacto. There is no way to get away from having the scissors become sticky when cutting through the foam- just clean them periodically with Ronsonal or pure napthy (dry cleaning fluid which is the same as Ronsonal and generally available in your supermarket). I would never use WD-40 or any other product with any amount of oils in it- it may break down the rubber eventually, not to mention leave spots of oil where you sure don't want it. I think you will find you will really like this system! You will soon become confident enough to remount some of your stamps that are problematic HTH! Julia |