An issue that stampers can have with acrylic stamps is not having success with the solid image stamps. The ink coverage sometimes causes the image to not be solid when it's stamped on the cardstock. It's frustrating to stamp an image several times before you get the one that is just right. It wastes not only time, but cardstock as well! There are a few things that you can do to solve this problem and make your experiences stamping with solid images more successful.

First, this image is stamped pulling the stamp straight out of the case, not having done anything to the stamp besides use it on some previous projects.

When you first get your stamps, you need to remember that they are coming fresh from the manufacturer and the surface has a finish on it. You need to break your stamp in or prime it. One easy way to do this is to rub an eraser over the surface area of the stamp. This primes your stamp surface to make it more accepting to ink.  

This picture shows the original stamp and the stamp after it is 'primed.' There is an improvement already! The butterfly is more crisp and there is much better ink coverage.

There are other methods of priming your stamps besides using an eraser. Some people suggest using a fine grit sandpaper or sanding block (use a very gentle touch!), scrub your stamps on a stamp scrubber cleaning pad, stamping your image several times on paper, or rubbing your stamp with textured cardstock or a paper bag. Depending on your preference, the image, and the stamp manufacturer you might want to experiment with a number of these methods.

Now, that second image is good, but there is another trick to make it even better...

Acrylic stamps don't have a cushion and so another thing to try is adding one underneath your project. You can use a thick piece of fun foam, but you could also use a mouse pad or even a magazine for your cushion. Adding the cushion is going to help with solid image stamping, as well as help with achieving good results when stamping with larger images.

The top was stamping right out of the case, the second after the stamp was primed with an eraser, and the third was after priming and using a cushion under the cardstock.

Give these few tricks a try the next time you pull your solid image stamps out for a project. They take just a extra minutes, but you will save time not having to restamp so many times and you will save on your supplies too. You will improve the quality of craftsmanship of your projects and be so much more successful with your solid image stamping!