Elizabeth -
We have a handful of Ultimark stamps we use in-house quite a bit. After stamping several thousand pieces of paper, they tend to accumulate miscellaneous debris/fibers, which causes the impression to become fuzzy. We clean our stamps a couple ways. First, we'll press the sticky side of a Post-It to the bottom of the stamp and then pull it away it to gently remove debris. You probably don't want to use anything stronger, like Scotch tape, because that might damage the stamp. Next, starting with a clean piece of paper, we stamp firmly and repeatedly down the paper to remove any residual ink from the surface of the stamp.
That generally takes care of it. In severe cases - stamps we've made around 10,000 impressions with on cheap copy paper - we've actually resorted to blotting the bottom of the stamp with a paper towel lightly sprayed with Simple Green to clean away excess ink and fibers.
Outside of these observations, bear in mind that:
1) These stamps perform best on smooth laser paper,
2) Since the bottom of the stamp is flat, you will obviously need a flat surface for a uniform impression,
3) The paper should be clean, as is the case with all stamps, and
4) A relatively quick, firm impression works best with Ultimarks. The longer you hold down the stamp, the more ink it will release, which is usually bad.
I hope this helps.
Harry
Notary Rotary, Inc. |
