I recently got a box of old metal stamps. I'd guess most are from ~1940. They look just like a typical rubber stamp except that it's solid metal (brass?). Is there a type of inkpad that will work with these? I'd love to adorn my stationary with a vintage advertisement for coal or Dr. Pepper.

They aren't seals for wax?

Scott

Nope. I think they were for printing newspapers.

I got a few of these stamps this summer in shoe boxes full of old fountain pens, ballpoints, and chewed pencils. I think you use a regular stamp pad and put the paper on a soft rubber substrate.

Paddler

I'm probably wrong, but what you're describing sounds awfully like movable-type blocks. Those metallic stamp-blocks that are arranged in massive trays and which are used for printing out newspapers in the old days. Is that what they are?

EDIT:

These things:



They're reverse-images of letters cast in metal stamps. They're arranged in words in frames and then they're inked up and have paper rolled over the top for printing stuff...

Are you going to make your own Shangas Bible?

LOL!!! NO!!!! It was just a suggestion!

I've got one of these, a Sheaffer ink ad from the late 20's. It was meant for big machines and an ink pad isn't the same thing as printers ink. Ink pad ink, I don't think, has the viscosity of printers ink and won't do the nice job you're trying to get. I haven't a solution as I didn't go past mucking about with an ink pad.

Roger W.

Some are these letters but most are images (a classroom, religeous symbols, Hebrew text, advertising images, medical icons, etc.).

It sounds like you have zinc cuts, used in combination with movable type in letterpress printing. They require substantial pressure but you may be able to run a rubber roller on the back (burnisnishing is an alternative) to get a good ink tranfer. Ink for printmaking is available from better art supply dealers in variety of colors.
I'll see if my friends in the printmaking word have any suggestions.
Good luck.

You may already know this, but there are several different kinds of stamp pads for rubber stamps. There's dye ink pads (fast drying), pigment ink pads (slow drying unless set with a heat gun), fabric ink pads, "chalk" ink pads, and maybe some others I don't know about. All these are water-based. Then there's solvent ink pads - not water-based. They produce a more permanent image, but clean-up must be with a solvent - not water.

You may have to do some experimenting to determine which kind of pad will work best with these metal thing-a-ma-jigs, but surely some kind of pad will produce an image. I have all these different kinds of pads. I'll do some experimenting for you - if I can think of something metal to use. I have enough rubber stamps to open my own craft store, but can't think of anything metal . . .




Yes, I think whatever pad you use, it will help to have a springy surface to stamp on since your "stamp" is made of hard metal.

Judybug

It's a gloomy day and I don't want to do any REAL work so I went upstairs to my mad-crafter-laboratory to look for something to perform an experiment for Lloyd.

I don't have any "movable type blocks," but I did find a box of hard plastic alphabet thing-a-ma-jigs. They are intended for imprinting clay - or cement if you want to make your own tombstone in advance (just kidding ). Anyway, these things are as hard as metal so I used them to experiment. I didn't get much of an image with a dye ink pad, but got a very good image with a pigment ink pad. The particular pad I used is the "Brilliance" brand, available in most craft stores for about $8.00. But I would think any brand of pigment pad will work.

A solvent pad might work, but I only have one of them and can't find it. But I think the water-clean-up with pigment pads is a big plus. Solvent cleaner is smelly. Also pigment stamp pads come in lots of beautiful colors. They are slower drying than dye ink or solvent ink, but you can stamp your stationery and let it sit around a day or two before you use it - OR invest in a heat gun (in the rubber stamp section of craft stores) for about $20.00.

Color Box is another brand of pigment ink pads. Take a look here: http://scrapbookingparadise.com/component/...id,26/vmcchk,1/

If you start collecting stamp pads, always store them upside down. This keeps the ink at the surface of the pad instead of letting it settle to the bottom.

Judybug

I muck around with stamps and pads and embossing all the time, and I never thought of this! Of course! Thank you!

THANKS! I went to a craft store this past weekend that allowed me to try several pads and I came to the same conclusion.