How to Make Rubber Stamps Comparing Methods of Manufacture
Vulcanized Rubber Stamps
The traditional red rubber stamp that everybody is familiar with will have been manufactured in a vulcanizing press. The first rubber stamp vulcanizing press was patented in 1890 by Charles Schultze in New Orleans USA. Vulcanizing is today one of the most cost effective methods of making rubber stamps for mass produced stamps. Each batch of stamps is produced using a mould. This method of manufacture is more suited to stamp making where the same moulds are used over and over again. Making custom made stamps with a vulcanizing press requiring ‘once only’ moulds will drive the cost of manufacture up significantly.
Making the mould - before a mould can be made you must have a master plate manufactured from metal or polymer, the master plate has the necessary relief (the artwork is raised) to make an impression in the mould. Having a master plate made each time a mould is required is what drives up the cost of manufacture for vulcanized stamps. Pressing the master plate into a Matrix board creates the mould that will accept the rubber. Heat and pressure is applied to the master plate and matrix board inside a Vulcanizing press. The Matrix follows the shape of the relief provided by the master plate, this then hardens on cooling.
Making Rubber Stamps - Creating stamps is a simple process once the mould is made. Raw rubber stamp gum is placed on top of the mould and then placed inside the stamp press. Hydraulic pressure is placed upon the rubber and the mould from within the stamp press causing the rubber to melt into the areas of the mould that contain the images and text, curing and hardening takes about 10 minutes. Once cured the sheet of rubber is pulled away from the mould and cut up into individual stamps to be affixed to mounts.
Cost of a vulcanizing system is approximately $12,000 AUD
Advantages - Low cost of production for mass produced stamps, good ink transfer.
Disadvantages - Cost of producing master plates and moulds for custom made stamps.
Laser Engraved Rubber Stamps
The traditional raw rubber used for vulcanizing stamp dies is quite unacceptable for the production of laser stamp dies, the laser process requires a very even thickness and blemish free surface to produce an acceptable printed image from a stamp die. The rubber must also be subjected to a specific curing process before it can be exposed to the elevated temperature of a laser beam.
The depth of the engraving is determined by the laser speed, its wattage and the density of the rubber. For example, a 50 or 100W engraver will engrave the rubber deeper and faster than a 25W machine, which may require a second pass to achieve a similar result. Usually supplied in an A4 size sheet form, a good quality laser rubber is required for engraving stamp dies and must also have suitable compression strength and ink transfer properties.
To assist the engraving process, it is necessary to remove the excess dust which is constantly created by the laser cutting action with an efficient exhaust filtration system. As very few, if any, CO2 laser engraving machines were initially purpose built for engraving and cutting rubber, installing and maintaining an effective dust extraction system pays long term dividends. Mirrors, lenses and any exposed bearing surfaces should be cleaned thoroughly as part of a regular maintenance program. Any neglect in this area will be detrimental to overall trouble free laser operation, as the build up of dust and residue will affect running efficiency and the quality of the finished stamp die. Lasers are controlled directly from a computer, the software drivers supplied with lasers work with many graphic programs such as CorelDraw.
Approximate cost of a 25 watt Laser suitable for stamp making is $40,000
Advantages - Production is computer controlled, custom made stamps can be made easily
Disadvantages - High capital investment, maintenance costs and running will be much higher than vulcanizing or polymer methods of manufacture.
Liquid Polymer Rubber Stamps
Converting rubber stamp polymer from a liquid into a solid to make stamps is quite fascinating. Polymer stamps are manufactured between two sheets of glass using precision controlled UV light which passes through a negative containing the stamp artwork solidifying the polymer. Negative production has been simplified with the introduction of water based negative technology, photographic chemicals for producing negatives are now a thing of the past.
The first step in making polymer rubber stamps is to print your images, clipart or text onto Vellum, an almost transparent paper like film.
To produce quality stamp artwork you must use a laser printer, inks from bubble jet printers are translucent allowing UV light to pass where it should not. Water based negatives are easily washed out after being exposed for a few minutes in a UV exposure stamp machine.
Polymer contained in a sachet is now replacing the older cumbersome method of using foam tape to create a dam and pouring of rubber stamp polymers, the sachets have also addressed the age old problem of removing air bubbles from the poured polymer.
The negative of your artwork and polymer sachet is sandwiched between two sheets of glass spaced 2-3mm apart which is then exposed in the machine for a few minutes. Once you have completed the exposure it is a simple process of cutting open the sachet and washing away the excess unexposed polymer before returning the stamp die back to the machine for a 10 minute curing. Once the stamps are cured they can be cut up individually. Polymer sachets are available in a range of sizes up to A4 size.
Processing time is about 30 minutes for a batch of polymer stamps.
Cost of polymer stamp making machines range from $3,500 AUD for an Australian made unit designed specifically for stamp making up to high end imported units with computer controlled washout for $15,000 AUD.
Advantages - Lower capital investment, polymers make almost clear stamps making them ideal for scrapbooking and card making. Stamp relief can be easily controlled during exposure.
Disadvantages - Early polymers did not accept inks as well as polymers available today, this along with being new technology caused initial resistance to polymer stamps.
Summary
Most large stamp manufacturers have a mix of the above equipment. The unmounted rubber stamp dies produced with any of these manufacturing methods can be cut up and affixed to simple hand stamps, dater stamps or self inking stamps. Craft stamps are usually affixed to wooden blocks or in the case of polymer stamps affixed to clear acrylic blocks with adhesives or InstaGrip mounting mat. Various manufactures produces stamp mounts. Astron Industries in Australia manufacturer the clear hand stamp ‘Vuestamp’ and also distribute the Ideal range of self inking mounts. Other brands of self inking mounts are Trodat, Colop and Shiny.
Robert de Rooy is based in Australia and has been involved with the rubber stamp industry in the Pacific region for over ten years, he has provided consultation to the development of http://www.stampsearch.com.au and operates http://www.instastamp.com.au a web site about making rubber stamps.
Tags: rubber stamps, stamp making, laser, vulcanized, self inking, polymer, trodat, clear stamps, colop, ideal
sombatd on February 2nd, 2008 Filed under rubber stamps | Comment now »Rubber Stamping From Maya Indians to Scrapbooking
Who would have thought that your scrapbooking and card making had a connection to the Maya Indians? Rubber Stamping is certainly one of the fastest growing hobbies today, and for good reason. With its inexpensive materials and creative versatility, rubber stamping provides millions with hours of fun and creativity. How did it all start?
Spanish explorers were the first to talk about a “sticky substance” that bounced, used by South America Indians. Though it didn’t revolutionalize the world at that time, these same Indians were using a primitive form of rubber stamping to “mark and tattoo” images on men and women.
In 1736, Charles Marie de la Condamine, a French scientist studying the Amazon, sent a piece of “India Rubber” back to France.
Rubber got its name in 1770, when the scientist Sir Joseph Priestly made a comment about a substance “excellently adapted to the purpose of wiping from paper the mark of black lead pencil.” Hence the “rubbing out” of pencil marks gave it the term “rubber”. Up until this time, people wishing to erase pencil marks had to use bread crumbs.
Rubber Stamping owes much gratitude to a hardware store owner who decided to quit his job to solve the “sticky problem” he had heard about. Though his persistence was tested time and again, even filing bankruptcy and going to jail for failure to pay debts, Charles Goodyear eventually discovered that heat was the secret to rubber’s “curing”.
As early as 1866, a man carved information in a flat piece of rubber and mounted it to a curved block of wood. This 4″x 6″ mounted rubber stamp was being used to print information on bath tubs.
Early rubber stamps consisted mainly of words and phrases used to mark packages and manufactured products. Stamping suppliers began to spring up in Ohio and the West.
Rubber stamping as a hobby took off in the early 1970’s with companies such as All Night Media (1974) and Hero Arts (1974). Soon the craze had caught and many other companies decided to cash in on a hobby that would last for decades.
It wasn’t until a boom in the 1990’s that rubber stamping became so popular with millions of crafter’s worldwide. As thousands of companies begin to produce rubber stamps, the availability and unique designs become common everywhere!
It’s no wonder why rubber stamping has turned into a worldwide crafting phenomenon. Women and men alike have found hundreds of creative uses for rubber stamps, from scrapbooking and cardmaking, to gift bags and 3D artwork. Give it a try, you’ll see!
Kathy Williams is a designer and producer of rubber stamps. She has assisted
in the production of hundreds of mounted rubber stamps and themed rubber stamping sets. You can find her
rubber stamps at http://www.rubberstampingfun.com
Tags: mounted rubber stamps, rubber stamping
sombatd on February 1st, 2008 Filed under rubber stamps | Comment now »Are You Wasting Time and Money Printing Business Cards
If you use business cards, you’ve probably thought about printing your own. After all, you own an inkjet printer, a computer, and some graphics software. How hard could it be to save a few bucks?
To check out how well this works in practice, my employees and I conducted a small experiment. We created 3 batches of business cards, using 3 different techniques.
The first technique was fairly straightforward: We took the business card down to our neighborhood print shop, and asked them to print up some more. We brought a blown up copy of our logo, which served as “camera ready artwork.” The copy shop took care of the typesetting, proofreading, printing, etc. It was fairly painless, although it did involve physically getting to the print shop. Next time we’ll email them a TIF file. We had planned on getting 500 cards, but the price for 1,000 was only a little higher, so we went with the larger quantity. The cards took 5 business days, apparently because they were not printed on-site, but rather outsourced to a wholesale printer.
The second technique may sound unorthodox, but it worked. We used a custom made rubber stamp to create the cards. This was fun, though it took a while. We also wrecked a few cards by stamping carelessly.
Finally, we created some cards on our inkjet printer, an Epson Stylus C84. There’s special software available for placing the images 10-up on the page, but we opted to use Adobe PageMaker, since that’s what we’re familiar with. We printed the cards on Avery #8871 Clean Edge Business Card paper.
All three methods have their proponents, and none of the methods was clearly the best choice for everyone. The rubber stamped cards were definitely funky looking. If you work at a bank, don’t even think about it. On the other hand, if you just need a few dozen cards for your part time cookie baking business, rubber stamped cards might be just what you need to convey the “home made” impression. Art stamp enthusiasts often have fun with multiple ink colors. The more ink pads you have, the more variety your cards can have. The cost of rubber stamped cards was 12.4 cents each. Unfortunately, our 8 year-old assistant got bored, so we aborted the experiment after an hour and a half, and about 150 cards.
The inkjet printed cards were a little harder to evaluate. The image was clear and sharp, and we chose to use the printer’s abilities to mix several colors and a blend on the page. However, the designing is not quite as trivial as it sounds. You can easily end up designing a card that’s too busy. Also, our first few designs had type that went too close to the edge. If you’re not a professional designer, count on printing out some experiments to look at before you hit the “Print” button for 200 cards.
No matter how careful you are, however, you still end up with cards that look like they were printed on an inkjet printer. The “clean” edges were still perceptibly perforated, and the ink ran a little when it got damp. An informal poll of small business owners in New England showed that inkjet printed cards still convey a “less serious” impression. Of course, this could be fine for many businesses, but it deserves some consideration. All together, we spent about 3 hours designing and printing 200 cards. We saved the design, so next time it could be quicker.
We expected the inkjet printed cards to be much cheaper than the professionally printed ones. That was before we tallied the cost of ink cartridges and paper. The paper was $16.88 online, plus $7.95 shipping, for 200 cards. That works out to 12.4 cents per card. If you include a 10% waste factor, the final paper cost is 13.66 cents per card. Then we calculated the ink cost. Overall, we averaged 42 cents per page, or 4.2 cents per card. (Each page had room for 10 cards.) Again, a waste factor of 10% meant a final ink cost of 4.62 cents per card. Total cost for ink and paper was 18.28 cents per card. An excellent price if you only need a few dozen, but for larger quantities, we could do better.
The professionally printed cards were simple 2 color (black and dark blue inks) raised printing on an off-white card stock. The raised printing and lack of perforations won the thumbs up from the New England small business owners. One middle aged woman observed that “they look like a real business printed them.” The price of professionally printed business cards varied quite a bit when we called around, so it may pay you to do a little shopping. Remember that you’ll likely use the same printer again in the future, if only for the convenience. Most print shops keep your data on file for quick reordering.
The print shop we chose charged us $43.00 for 1,000 cards, which works out to 4.3 cents per card, or about a 76% discount from the inkjet printed cards. Had we chosen to order only 500 cards, the price would have been $38.00, or 7.6 cents per card. That’s still a savings of 58.4%. More importantly, we felt we had a good looking card. While not exciting, it was professional enough to hand out anywhere.
A few other points to consider: The price we paid at the print shop was for a fairly simple job. We didn’t choose, for example, to have solid ink coverage extending all the way to the edge (a “bleed”.) Nor did we have a custom color mixed up for us. These charges can add up, so if your design isn’t set in stone just yet, you might want to check with the print shop about their policies. Also, we chose to do our inkjet printing on specially made inkjet paper. You can save money by choosing a cheaper paper, but we haven’t had good results with any we’ve found so far.
Our verdict: Go with the method that’s right for you! For the homemade cookie business, get a rubber stamp. If you only need a few business cards, and aren’t overly concerned with appearances, go with the inkjet method. However, for most people in business, the professionally printed business card wins on convenience, cost, and professional image.
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Simon Peter Alciere is a business owner and writer in Amherst, Massachusetts, USA. |
Tags: business cards, rubber stamps, inkjet printer
sombatd on January 31st, 2008 Filed under rubber stamps | Comment now »