6-May-99 Indexing stamps

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I've been busy evenings this week indexing stamp mounts. Last week we got the order of wood stamp mounts from out new supplier, and it took a couple of evenings to unpack it and do incoming inspection. This supplier packed all the mounts in one carton, with cardboard and bubble paper between some of the layers, but no clear indication of which size mounts started where. The other people I've dealt with packed individual sizes of mounts in separate paper bags (and I think it's fun to bring my lunch to work in a paper bag that used to have 40 1 1/2 x 2 1/2 inch stamp mounts in it!) and that was a lot easier to unpack and check. I'm not as pleased with this supplier as the others; there were more unusable mounts, and I think they sent 80 blocks of one size instead of 40 of that size and 40 of a quarter inch longer. I can use all they sent, and the good blocks are beautiful -- very smoothly finished so they will index well -- so overall it's OK.

A lot of the effort in indexing stamp mounts is just organizing things. I need to get out the stamps I use for indexing and get out the right number of blank blocks of each size I'm doing (or cut the blocks from 18 inch lengths of moulding for sizes I don't buy individually, and then sand the cut ends on a belt sander -- that took my time after klez practice Tuesday). Then I scoop a half-teaspoonful of printers ink out of a can with a putty knife, glop a little of it on a piece of disposable palette paper, and roll it out with a rubber brayer. I ink the indexing stamp on the brayer and turn myself into a human printing press as I stamp on each stamp mount, lining up the mount and the indexing stamp in a little wooden jig, a piece of plywood with two blocks forming a corner to hold the mount and the indexing stamp. Cleaning the oily ink off the stamp takes almost as much time as doing the printing. When the entire free surface of my workbench is covered with mounts that have to dry overnight I'm ready to stop.