Tip of the Week...How to Clean your Stencils!

Hello my Dear Stamper Friends:

Today, I would like to share with you how I clean my Stencils...
If you are like me ...that I like to have my supplies "Clean"...well this tip is for you!

I know there a lot of people who don't care to have them "stained, " which is Ok too...
it is just a matter of preference!...
Your stencils will work just fine as long as you are using only inks or paints...

Very simple: use any type of FLAT surface to place your stencil, it can be any tray...I use a baking sheet. This is important as the stencil remains flat and you will NOT ruin any of the design...
Tilt your tray, scrub it with a fingernail brush very gently with MILD HAND SOAP and run it through WATER and that's it!

Updated on May 2014:
NOTE: When you are at your Desk  (not near a sink) , clean the stencils with baby wipes..then take them to the sink and do the step explained above!

If you want to get rid of tough stains:

I used my stencil with a "Magenta" color, an acrylic "Golden" paint and the stencil looked like this after finishing my project...the hand soap did NOT took care of the stains.

So I rubbed "Stazon " cleaner with my fingernail brush on the tray, then run it through water and here it is the result...

After this step,   I used mild hand soap to get rid of the chemicals from the "Stazon cleaner", (which it is a very "Strong" chemical and not advisable to leave it on any surface)...and Voilà!
Almost as new...although my fingernail brush absorbed the color and stayed all stained :) , this paint was very strong...!!!

Updated on May 2014:
if you forget to clean them and the stain is DRY.
Here I used "Viva Inka Gold" metallic rub and I forgot to clean it...
The "before" with the stains dried

clean it with "Stazon"...(this cleaning step will works as well if you use "Archival Inks", specially when using Black...clean the stencil with "Stazon" and it will look almost as new!
The "after" result

As I said earlier if you do not care for stains, you can leave them like that and this will NOT ruin the results of your stencil designs... BUT

IMPORTANT: the only time that you MUST clean your stencils, if you want to re-use them is when you are using glues or molding pastes...if you do not clean them right away these products will ruin your stencils...so use the steps from above...

*Remember to DRY them as well:

place them flat on a paper towel, roll on top of them, the whole roll of paper and they will be ready for your next use

OK my friends, hope all is well and see you soon

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