Wheely Great Stamps!

I get many questions about how our wheel stamps work, so I thought this would be a great time to show some basics about how the wheel stamps work!

Many of you are familiar with the Stampin Up wheel system.  All of our products are interchangeable with theirs!  So if you have a self inking handle and cartridges, they will ALL work with our clear wheel system.  Woo-hoo!

First, let's show you the basics of the clear wheel:

The clear wheels come in two sizes:  1 inch and 2 inch.  The one inch wheel is pictured here.  The clear wheel comes with a pad inking handle.....which means that you ink it by rolling it on your choice of ink pads (picture below).  The wheel is about 6 3/4 inches long, so any project that you have with that size range your wheel will cover (this is the same for the 1 inch and 2 inch wheel).

Your clear wheel comes with an acetate sheet covering the gripper strips on the wheel.  Beneath that are clear sticky tape like sheets....these help your clear stamps stay in place better.  There are about 5 layers of these to your wheel that are perforated, so when your gripper strip starts loosing stickiness you can peel it off and use a new one!

The original intent of these wheels by the manufacturer was for individual stamps to be placed around the wheel.  We found that did not work very well.  So we created "wheel stamps" or stamps that fit the clear wheel perfectly.  The beauty of this is that you can use our "wheel stamps" on your wheel if you choose or you can use them on an acrylic block.  You can buy one clear wheel and one acrylic block and use them for all your wheels stamps, avoiding storing all those bulky wheels!  Yippee!

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Today I am using the Tender Heart Swirls Wheel (this wheel coordinates perfectly with all of our Critter sets designed by Laurie):

1.  Below you will see that we are removing the clear stamp from the acetate sheet. 
2.  You then begin by positioning one end of the stamp on the wheel and work your way around sticking it down as centered as possible. 
3.  In the fourth picture, you can see that my first time around, I didn't get the ends to meet.  The trick is to stretch the stamp just a smidgy as you stick it down. 
4. The bottom picture shows the correct positioning of the stamp with the ends meeting.

When you are done stamping and need to clean your wheel, all you need to do is pull the handle out a little and the wheel will come right out.

Cleaning your wheels:
1.  You can use a scrubber pad and spray cleaner....just spray your stamp with the cleaner (while on the wheel) and scrub it on your pad.  You an also run it under water right on the wheel!  Very simple to clean!

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SELF INKING WHEEL SYSTEM

Having a self inking stamp can be very useful in the right situations, but a little confusing for a beginner with the system!  Here are the basic items you need to get started with your self inking wheel system:

1.  Self Inking handle:  available in 1 inch or two inch.

2.  Ink cartridge

3.  Reinker to ink your cartridge.

I sell the refills and cartridges as a set or separate.  These cartridges work with all dye inks, as well as, with the Ancient Page ink refills that I sell.

1 inch system

2 inch system

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The first thing you will need to do is ink the foam wheel in your cartridge.  You may not need to re-ink every time you use your wheel, but most of the time I do, because I like my colors to be very vibrant.  It also helps if you will store your cartridges in little zip shut bags to keep them from drying out.

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The next step is to load your ink cartridge in to your handle.  The handle has grooves and a little black peg that help you get it lined up and in there just right.

 

1.  Remove the lid from the ink cartridge.

2.  Line the cartridge up in the handle.

3.  Place your thumb on the cartridge tab and push down gently until it clicks into position.

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Next you will pop your stamp loaded clear wheel in to place:

 

After you get the wheel snapped in to place, you need to engage the cartridge.  On the left, it is in the very bottom position....you can see a small gap between the cartridge and the wheel to allow for loading the clear wheel.  Once the wheel is in place, you need to push the cartridge up against the wheel.  The cartridge is spring loaded to keep it in place.

 

You are now ready to start stamping!

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The most important part to success with these wheel stamps is how you hold the handle:

CORRECT WAY TO HOLD HANDLE:  Holding the wheel in this manner allows you to apply even pressure to the wheel.

 

WRONG WAY TO HOLD HANDLE!!!!!!!  Do not hold your wheel by the handle!  They really should just take it off.  You will not get an even or complete image holding your handle this way.

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First, you need to prime your wheel on a piece of scrap paper.  Keep rolling until the complete wheel stamp is covered in ink and inking an even color.  You can then start rolling and filling your paper with beautiful stamping!

 

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Tips and Tricks:

Tip #1

Many people have a hard time rolling a straight line.....there is a solution!  There is a stamping wheel guide that helps you do just that!

 

This guide comes in two pieces.  You can use them in the 12 inch pieces, or they snap together to form a 24 inch piece for your large projects like wrapping paper!  These guides also snap together at a 90 degree angle so you can stamp corners perfectly!

 

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Tip #2

Roll your pattern at a diagonal....it hides the spaces that might occur between each line of stamping.

 

 

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Tip #3

Projects that the wheel stamps are ideal for:

1.  Wrapping paper.  You can cover a lot of paper in a very short period of time!

2.  Gift bags.

3.  Tissue paper to match your gift bags.

4.  If you are making a large number of cards.  You can roll the paper in complete sheets, and then chop it in to smaller pieces for all your cards.

**I use the Ancient Page ink on all my gift bags and tissues.....it is water proof!  Just look at it as I hold it under water!

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I would use the "wheel stamp" on an acrylic block instead of the wheel in these situations:

1.  You are creating one small card.

2.  You need exact positioning of your image on your project.

Acrylic block for 1 inch wheel stamp

Acrylic block for 2 inch wheel stamp

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Other items:

2 cell and 3 cell cartridges:  they have 2 or 3 of the rollers in them so you can put 2 or 3 different colors of ink on them for a rainbow effect when you wheel your project.

Watermark Embossing cartridges:  These work just like your Versamark pads.  You put them in just like the regular inked cartridges.  You can roll it and let it dry for a tone on tone watermark effect, or sprinkle the embossed area with embossing powder for an embossed look

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Here is a super simple project you can make with your wheel stamp:

 

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First, I rolled my bag with my wheel stamp as shown above.

Second, I rolled the corners of my tissue paper to match my bag.  I only do the corners, because that is all you see!  Hint:  there is a slick side and a rough side to tissue paper.  Make sure you roll on the rough side.

 

Third, I made a little label with my Labels 4 Nestability (for tutorial on how to use these, go here).

Ta-da!  Beautiful gift bag and tissue set in minutes!

 

One year for Christmas, I rolled a bunch of bags and tissues in different patterns and gave them to my Mother in law.  She was so thrilled!  The next time you need a gift to give someone, give them a gift that keeps giving....they will be thrilled too!

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I made a simple little card to match:

 

Recipe for card and bag:

ALL CDSTAMPS LLC STAMP SETS USED:  Tender Heart Swirls, In God’s Hands
CARDSTOCK AND PAPERS:  SU Rose Red and white

INKPADS:  Ancient Page Azalea reinker and cartridge, Azalea Ink pad

ACCESSORIES AND EMBELLISHMENTS:  White ribbon, Heart Charm, Labels 4 Nestability, Medium white gift bag, white tissue paper, Self inking handle 1 inch, clear wheel 1 inch

COLORING MEDIUM (if any):  Wheel Stamping

**You can also use your Stampin Up Rose Red inks for the project.

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Shop for Clear Wheels with this link

Shop for Self Inking handles, ink cartridges, and refills with this link

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Link to the 1 inch Clear Wheel

Link to the 1 inch Self Inking Handle

Link to the 2 inch Clear Wheel

Link to the 2 inch Self Inking Handle

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Answers to frequently asked questions:

1.  One cartridge for every color of ink....you can not switch colors once inked.

2.  There are refill gripper strips in the Clear Wheel section for when you run out of new gripper strips on your wheel.

3.  All of these wheels and handles are interchangeable with the Stampin' Up wheels and handles.  I promise!

I will post answers to any questions posted here in the future!  So check back if you have a question!

Hope your day is filled with blessings and stamping galore!

Lori

Comments

[Laurie Wilson]

Wow, so very thorough on all the possibilities and ways to use the wheel stamps! Very cool!

[Dawn]

Wow what a brilliant idea and such a fabulous affect ,brilliant
hugs Dawnxxxx

[Candyf]

Great instructions on how to use this system! I love the gift bag.