Day 337: Cleaning Badly Stained Stamps with StazOn Stamp Cleaner and Remounting with Jim Stephan's Stamp Cushion

I attended a first Sunday flea market today and found a lady who was clearing out some of her unwanted stamps.  Several of them were like new, but one was a "K" initial, and even though it was badly stained, I decided to buy it. When I got home, I realized that not only was it badly stained, but there was no cushion underneath it.  I decided I would take the image off the wood block to clean it and then add new cushion. I saturated the rubber with StazOn stamp cleaner, let it sit for a few minutes, and then used an alcohol wipe to clean the ink off.  I did that three or four times before the image was clean.

(You can buy alcohol wipes in a convenient container at most local pharmacies; I love them for cleaning ink off my hands or the acrylic stamping square that goes with my Stamp-A-Ma-Jig. You really should not use alcohol to clean your stamps, but this one was so badly stained, a little alcohol wasn't going to ruin it.  I was mainly using the wipe to help remove the StazOn cleaner and the old ink.)

After that I used some cushion from Jim Stephan's Rubber Art Ink Stamps Store (ebay) to remount the stamp. If you are looking for cushion to mount stamps, I highly recommend Jim's.  He makes his own, it is black, with adhesive on both sides, it is a nice thickness, and I have used it for years.

To keep your stamps from becoming badly stained, clean them after each use.  If you are trying to clean a badly stained stamp, I highly recommend saturating your stamp with StazOn Stamp Cleaner (available on the internet, at box craft stores like Hobby Lobby and Michael's, and most independent stamp stores), waiting a few minutes, and then cleaning it off.  This has worked for me 99% of the time if I purchase a stamp that is badly stained.  And remember, just because a stamp is badly stained, often the stamped image looks fine, so if there is a stamp you love, and the price is right, take a chance and buy it.  Or use the stained condition as a way to bargain with the seller and get the price reduced; at least if it doesn't clean up, you won't feel like you totally wasted your money.