2.7 Seals and stamp pads for pocket books

Seals represented power and trust in ancient times. For thousands of years, whether it was early metal ring seals in Europe or a large number of jade seals from the Zhou Dynasty to the Han Dynasty in China, seals and simplicity have been closely linked. In modern times, due to the maturity of laser engraving technology, the credit attribute of seals has gradually been replaced by signatures (still retained in some cases, such as buying a house), and even in the Internet age, encryption technology is mainly used for "electronic signatures."

Although the credit-granting function of the seal has been greatly weakened, the copying and commemorative functions of the seal continue. We are not too far away from the days when letters were mailed with postmarks. Although it is no longer common to send letters, there are more special edition postcards and exclusive postmarks for tourist attractions. There are many places where you can get stamps in American national parks. This culture of stamping scenic spots has also become popular in China. Guangzhou Zhongshan Hall provides very beautiful seals of various classic scenic spots of Zhongshan Hall, which is very impressive.

The seals used in the handbook, except for the seals collected at scenic spots in the travel handbook, are generally content that needs to be reused and can be divided into functional and style categories. Functional ones include buying some stamps for time management forms, todos, time cakes, fitness records, food records, etc.; while style stamps may just be because you like the pattern and pattern, and you can buy or make your own rubber stamps.

Common handbook seals include: photosensitive seals, adjustable date stamps, rubber seals (with wooden handles), transparent silicone seals, and homemade rubber stamps.

Photosensitive stamps do not require the use of an ink pad. Ink is pre-filled in the sponge behind the stamp. Ink needs to be added again after stamping hundreds of times. Adding ink is easy and you can do it yourself. Photosensitive seals are very convenient to use and cheap, making them ideal seals for pocket books.

The ink return stamp also uses photosensitive ink, which is mainly used for date-adjustable stamps. Since the handbook carries many time management functions, the adjustable date is also an important function and can often be used in the handbook. I saw it in my recommendation.

A rubber-engraved seal with a wooden handle is the most common seal style, and the most common rubber surface is rubber red. Although there are also woodcut seals, most of the wood seals are only made of wood for the hand-held part, and the graphic part uses rubber patterns, otherwise the woodcuts will not be accurate enough and will wear off too easily.

Transparent silicone seals generally have machine-engraved patterns, and can be engraved with very detailed patterns. The pattern itself is very thin and easy to store. It can be sucked onto the transparent acrylic handle when used and removed after use. The transparent handle also makes it easy to see the printing position and avoid printing deviation.

Transparent silicone printing + acrylic handle has many benefits, but it is not too primitive and has never been particularly popular. It is mainly American brands such as Tim Holtz, Altenew, and a large number of Chinese brands or unbranded ones. Just like the usual styles in Europe and America, the main style of silicone printing is Gothic fonts, lines, mostly classical, and rarely cute style.

Making your own rubber stamps is also a big pitfall, but the pitfalls are different. Making your own rubber stamps is not expensive, but it takes time and effort.

The tools for making homemade rubber stamps are very simple. You can start with a utility knife and a piece of rubber. The basic set is to add a pill knife (round head hollowing out), a corner knife (triangular hollowing out), sulfuric acid paper, 2B or above pencils, special erasers, and a tutorial on rubber stamps. A simple set starts at 10 yuan, and a luxury set will cost no more than 200 yuan, and the rubber material it comes with can last almost a lifetime.

Making your own rubber stamps is still very interesting. The stamps you carve out by yourself are more emotional and more suitable for your own needs. You can carve any pattern you like by yourself, instead of looking for a needle in a haystack on the Internet to find a stamp. It feels very good on the handbag. .

However, homemade rubber stamps must be used with the ink pad. The main pit of the rubber stamp is the ink pad.

Photosensitive seals and ink-recovery seals are both added with ink and do not require an ink pad. Whether it is a rubber wooden handle stamp, a silicone acrylic handle stamp or a homemade rubber stamp, it all needs to be stamped with an ink pad.

If the diary is just for time management, just buy a stamp that comes with its own ink. Try not to choose a stamp that requires an ink pad, which is relatively troublesome and the ink pad is a bottomless pit. Most of the imported ink pads purchased online cost between 10 and 60 each, but there are often dozens of ink pads in a series, and each color looks good, which is a waste of money.

Ink pads can be divided into more than six categories according to different combinations of color and base.

The color part of the ink pad mainly includes dye and pigment. The general understanding is that dye has a certain degree of permeability. Paper and cloth will absorb part of the dye to show special effects. Ink It is a type of dye; the pigment mainly covers the surface, but this way the covering power is stronger, and it is generally thicker. The simple distinction is that the pigment ink pad is usually sponge-shaped, and the dye ink pad is usually made of cloth.

There are three main types of bases, water-based, oil-based and solvent-based.

Water-based ink pads are usually not waterproof unless specially formulated, such as Memento; oil-based ink pads usually require special cleaning fluids to remove and are not suitable for use on non-absorbent surfaces. Solvent-based ink pads are generally waterproof and can be stamped on any surface. Absorbent surfaces such as coated paper, plastic, metal, and glass.

The first thing to consider when choosing an ink pad is the stamping material. For notebooks, both water-based and oil-based ink pads may be suitable, but both may not be effective. The water-based ink pad may smudge, while the oil-based ink pad may show through the paper backing. , the characteristics of this notebook paper are also related.

The classification of ink pads is mainly for certain papers and special materials that require special ink pads, such as cloth and metal surfaces. Some ink pads are waterproof.

The main brands in Taiwan include Tsukineko from Japan and Ranger from the United States. There are many Mooncat series, including classic water-based ink pads with droplets, retro oil-based ink pads with iron boxes, StazOn solvent-based ink pads, etc., all belong to the Moonmao brand. Similar to the status of MT in tapes, the domestic ink pad promotion is mainly done by Yuemao brand. The American version has Tim Holtz retro water-based ink pads from Ranger Company. The retro colors are beautiful, but the quality seems to be not as stable as the Japanese ink pads.

Domestic ink pads are cheap and of good quality. The colors may be a little brighter, but I bought a affordable large black ink pad for office use. It costs 20 yuan and is very easy to use. It doesn’t hurt to use it.

The use of seals and ink pads is mainly about feelings. From a functional point of view, it is almost easy to replace. Tape or sticker can be used for the seal pattern, and sticky paper or printer can be used for the form seal. And usually the seal pattern is relatively simple and can also be directly hand-drawn. The difference between seals is that the seals can be matched with different ink pads to create very subtle color and texture effects, especially retro effects.