Tackling those wood mounted stamps

I finally had it with my boxes and boxes of wood mounted stamp – So after a little investigation and some tips from people who had done it before I decide to un-mount my stamps and free up some much need space in my craft area..

The hardest part for me was deciding where I was going to store them – but thanks to a fab new year sale i picked up this photo album which has the capability to house 500 picture…

It was going for 2quid and when I picked it up my intention was to try one of those year long journal challenge and the compartment style plastic inserts are just perfect  -

However after weighing up the pros and the cons – I decided on using it for storage…

One of the first thing I did was cut some cards to fit in to the slot of each page…

My initial idea was to use the back and front of the page to house stamp an image – but when I did the first one I realise it was too tight a fit to put to stamp back to from in each slot..

In the end I ended up putting the stamp in the front section and the image on the reverse in each slot…

Before I began I took some tape – just any tape will do and fold it over the hold in the sleeves – and repunch the holes . I did this to give some extra support to the pages, as after all this was not made to hold stamps.

Other than the actual un-mounting of the stamp – this was probably the most tedious part of the whole process.

I had to commandeer the kitchen for this mission – and also because I needed the microwave for the whole process.. Even the trusty apple juice came out …

Where stamps had a plastic film (buy info or manufacturing info) or any pertinent detail paste on the wood mount.. I removed them and attached them to the section that the stamp would be placed in…

I did this as I always ask where stamps are from and I wanted to have that info at hand just in case I am ever asked – or even if I happen to damage the stamps –  I will know where to get it from..

Just a few of the baskets getting emptied, these make ideal storage for those bits of wooden backing..

Some picture of the book getting filled

I will admit this is a long process and demands a lot of patience and finger nail as well – but in the end so worth it.

The space this had freed up has allowed me to do a little re-shifting of my craft area..

The other absolutely fantastic thing about un-mounting my stamps is that I have the stamps now close at hand in a convenient folder ..So stamps I have not seen in years – I can now get to them easily..

So far the book has about 280 stamps in there and it does have a alligator mouth sort of look – but I set that right with a elasticated hair band and the book is already tucked away in a corner…