Tuesday, August 16, 2011

Tip Tuesday: Storing Wood-mounted Stamps

Storing Wood-Mounted Stamps

Today we have a few ideas for storing your wood-mounted stamps. While a lot of folks are un-mounting their stamps and going to cling mount systems, some folks just prefer the wooden block. But those blocks can be hard to store. We hope these tips will help.

Tip #1
I bought a small bookshelf for all my wood-mounted stamps. I printed out all the names of my stamps on a piece of white paper then cut them out and attached these to the side of the stamp with a small strip of sticky tape. This means I can still find what I want without taking up the space with a bulky image showing.

Tip #2
I have some of my favorite wood-mounted stamps stored in a shadow box as a decorative accent on a wall in my hallway, amid photos and other memorabilia of my family.

Tip #3
I store my mounted stamps on some very special shelves my father made for me on a visit to my home (now that he has passed, these shelves have become even more special to me)



Tip #4
I store my wood mounted stamps in a cart. The cart I got at Home Depot I think. You can buy drawers for it of different depths. They slide in and out. I can get about 6 wire drawers in. Because of the wires I purchased some acrylic sheet and had it cut to the size of the bottom of each drawer. There is a worktable that fits on top so I can work on it as I use my stamps.

Tip #5
I have a lot of stamps! So, one thing I use for storing my wood is the box covers of copy paper boxes. Where I work we use a lot of paper and I can take the box tops home. They make good storage, I can actually cut the boxes down so if I want to I can stack them. I label the outside.

Tip #6
I store my stamps by category (birthday, Christmas, animals, floral, etc.) so I make sure that each stamp has ALL of the manufacturer information marked in permanent ink on its block before I put it away. I put the name of the manufacturer, the stamp name and item number (if available), and the date I purchased it. That way, if I use the stamp for a magazine submission I have all the information I need right at hand.

Tip #7
However you store your stamps, be sure to do so out of bright sunlight which can age and crack the rubber and have an effect on the adhesive used to mount the stamp.

Tip #8
I am fortunate enough to have wooden stamp storage cabinets that I bought a few years ago. It allows for single level storage of the stamps so that all block indexes are visible. I organize by subject matter.

Tip #9
If storing stamps vertical on a book shelf, buy inexpensive adjustable spice racks to store them on. They "step up" with each row so you can see stamps in the back.


Hope these tips give you some ideas for storing your own wood-mounted stamps.

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