rubber stamp

[tony mazzone]

Hi All,

I have a customer who wants a 5" x 5" rubber stamp made with their logo on it. I had made some small rubber stamps for my kids before using my laser on a sheet of stamp padding from a craft store. It engraved pretty good. If I were to do that again I would also have to make a wood base to glue the stamp to. Does anyone have a suggestion on whether to go this route of to order stamps made specifically for the laser. Besides Laser Bits can anyone suggest a distributor for these. How much would you charge for one that size?

Thanks,

Tony

[John Noell]

We make quite a few rubber stamps. We use the rubber from Jackson (rubber-stamp.com). It stinks! (We have no close neighbors.) 5x5 is HUGE. We make our own bases but buy handles from Jackson. We prefer the double-sided foam tape to stick the rubber on the mount, as the cushioning seems to help get better impressions but contact cement also works.

[Chuck Stone]

Just a guess, but if I were to make a stamp that large, I'd probably do it on
a rounded pad so that you roll it instead of stamping it.

You could make a 5" long cylinder with a diameter of 6.5" and you cut it in
half, then in half again. Using one quarter of the cylinder (keep three spares)
you'd have a surface area of 5" x 5.1" and would roll it 45 degrees fwd and
back to stamp.

[Bill Cunningham]

Remember! The customer also has to find a useful stamp pad for one that large. Also, stamps that consist of outlines and hollow letters usually work best when their that large. A stamp is a printing plate, and it takes a LOT of pressure to get a even print on a 25 square inch area. Particularly if the stamps contains large solid text. Regardless of what kind of pad they get, it has to supply a LOT of ink to the surface. Customers sometime have very unrealistic ideas of what they can do with a rubber stamp. Customers seeking ones that large are usually trying to save money by imprinting their own boxes or something, and they rarely work as well as expected. My minimum price for one that size would be about $55.00 text only, or up to $100.00 for text and graphics. A rule form stamp (one with a gridwork of lines) would have a $80.00 setup charge as well. If there are any large empty spaces, you may not be able to cut it deep enough with a laser to prevent background imaging, particularly if they want to use a cheap foam pad.. Unless you make a lot of stamps, there will probably be a large learning curve as you throw away all the scrap ones that won't print right. One that large should be made using deep molded vulcanized rubber, and they ain't cheap!

[Andrea Weissenseel]

the size is not that unusual for rubber stamps which are used for scrapbooking. You could also use an acrylic block as base and mount the rubber with a cling cusion to it. As for the stamp pads - small ones can be used, instead of pressing the rubber on the pad, use the pad to spread the ink over the stamp

[Bill Cunningham]

the size is not that unusual for rubber stamps which are used for scrapbooking. You could also use an acrylic block as base and mount the rubber with a cling cusion to it. As for the stamp pads - small ones can be used, instead of pressing the rubber on the pad, use the pad to spread the ink over the stamp

Yup that's right, I forgot about art stamps.. You rarely get laser cut rubber stamps that large. Art stamps for scrap booking are usually mass produced and vulcanized from molds rather than cut with a laser. The laser is too slow when trying to match the depth common with scrap book stamps. Most of the manuf. that make stamp mount strips (usually 18" long)now, only go up to 3" high x 18" long and have discontinued anything larger. I used to get cushion mounts up to 6" but not for the last few years... Also, the suppliers are now going back to wood mounts, because the company that supplied the lions share of plastic mount strips have recently discontinued them. You can still find them, but the supply is dwindling. Most, if not all of the artsy scrapbooking stamps now come out of China. Like everything else...

[Andrea Weissenseel]

Art stamps for scrap booking are usually mass produced and vulcanized from molds rather than cut with a laser. The laser is too slow when trying to match the depth common with scrap book stamps.

You're right Bill, laser is definitely not the right choice for mass production of art stamps

I used to get cushion mounts up to 6" but not for the last few years... Also, the suppliers are now going back to wood mounts, because the company that supplied the lions share of plastic mount strips have recently discontinued them. You can still find them, but the supply is dwindling.

these are the one's I was in contact with for the cushion http://www.stampersbest.com/home.php?cat=3

Most, if not all of the artsy scrapbooking stamps now come out of China. Like everything else...

Nothing to add

[James Terry]

When doing this, does the cushion get cut to shape as well? Does one attach the cushion to the substrate before or after the laser?

[Bill Cunningham]

I buy in my stamp mounts in 18" strips, with the cushion attached. Some stamps you have to trim the cushion to the edges of the stamp die after mounting it, but with stamps that have printed areas (i.e. borders) out to the edges of the stamp, trimming is not always needed. If it needs trimming to prevent a back surface of the stamp from printing, I just trim it back with a exacto knife. The penchant for some folks to use these cheap foam stamp pads, and end up WAY over inking the stamp surface, trimming on some stamps to overcome heavy handed aggressiveness becomes a necessity.