I've been mounting some stamps on album pages that I made. At first when I mount them, they look fine but the day after when I look at them again it seems that the stamp curls right at the spot where the hinge is attached to the stamp. Some stamps seem to curl a larger area as well.
I am thinking I am using too much moisture when attaching the hinge, but I have been trying to use as little as possible. Any ideas on what I am doing wrong? Or tips on how to mount them in the best possible way using hinges?
I use mounts myself even for used stamps..just an OCD thing I guess. But the one thing I could think of is to make sure you are leaving them under some heavy weight for at least several days after soaking to ensure that flatness stays. I will get some stamps that still want to curl even after a week.
I've been thinking of using mounts, but haven't taken that step yet.
The stamps themselves have been fine and non-curly until I mounted them with the hinge, and it was just the upper part of the stamp that would get a curl/bump after mounting it.
I did some testing with duplicates, and it seems like the stamp won't curl at the top when I take care to "flatten" the hinge before using it to mount the stamp. I had just taken it out of the bag and mounted it earlier. But it made a difference when I "sharpened" the bend of the hinge and worked it a little first.
Will be mounting more stamps today using hinges, so will see in a day or two if it works out well with my new method.
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re: Hinges curl my stamps
Don't lick the hinge. Lick your little finger and moisten the hinge.
The curling is likely from the stamp getting too wet. Experiment, and you will find just the right amount of moisture that will allow the hinge to stick, but not curl the stamp.
Roy
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I have used a sponge to only moisten the tip of my finger. But using my index finger instead of my little finger, and I think I have been applying too much water. When mounting some stamps today, I tried to use as little moisture as possible on the hinges and so far it looks better.
I thought I was limiting the moisture by applying it with my fingertip, but seems like the hinge barely needs any moisture to get sticky enough to use for mounting the stamp.
Jeredutt3 states that his stamps may still curl even after a week of drying under weight.
Possible cause; adhesive may still be present in trace amounts on back of stamp from soaking off of envelope or hinge adhesive from previous mountings. This will not always be evident until moisture is present, as when hinges are applied, or just a sudden change in atmospheric relative humidity. Stamp paper and stamp adhesives have a different coefficient of expansion caused by moisture. This is why mint stamps tend to curl in either very humid or very dry weather. Almost everything swells slightly when it absorbs moisture.
Makazi; be careful making your own pages, to not use cheap copier paper. Only use heavy weight blank album pages. If you can't afford them, look on eBay for bargains on blank pages. The cheaper paper will also curl from hinges. This will take the form of a puckered area on reverse side of page from stamp. Even quality album pages tend to do this to a lesser extent, so I always apply some weight after mounting stamps to my pages.
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re: Hinges curl my stamps
Mac, I've never had that problem of seen anyone else ask about it so the first thing that crossed my mind is to sk what kind of hinges you are, or were using ?
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"Mac, I've never had that problem of seen anyone else ask about it so the first thing that crossed my mind is to sk what kind of hinges you are, or were using ?"
I haven't had the time to do anything with stamps for a good while, but will probably try some mounting again soon. It does seem I have to be very careful about how much moisture I apply to the hinges.
@Ken - Thanks for the tip! I'm using heavy weight paper for all album pages I print out. I will try to apply some weight on the newly mounted pages next time I mount stamps. I'll make sure the hinge glue is dry first of course
Update: The last page I mounted stamps on I used a cotton swab instead of my fingertip, and just moistened the cotton swab from a sponge I had put water on. Then I applied as little moisture as possible on the hinge using the cotton swab, and it seems that does the trick!
I found the tip about the cotton swab on this forum, but don't remember who it was or in what thread. But thanks to you who mentioned it!
So I guess the trick for the hinges I use, is to apply as little moisture as possible to avoid any unwanted disfiguration. And using a cotton swab in combination with a sponge gave me more control on how much I apply.
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