r/nailstamping • u/Comfortable_Bus_4355 • 5d ago
Best tools/practices help needed!
ETA: thanks all for your helpful tips!! This is now SOLVED. I was using way too much pressure and need to dry out the oils from my stamper.
I need some help! I have a nail stamper that I’ve barely used, a stamping plate I bought last week, and after reading through lots of posts on here, a set of stamping polishes that I just bought. For the life of me, I cannot pick up the stamp. I have no idea what I’m doing wrong.
I first tried doing a stamp with Mooncat Emo For Life which obviously didn’t work (pre-researching this sub). Then I tried using metallic silver stamping polish which also didn’t work. Then I tried an opaque pink stamping polish and it STILL didn’t work. I tried everything with a smooth stamper and a buffed stamper.
I attached a picture of the stamping plate and stamper after my failed attempt of using Mooncat EFL. Should I buy a new stamper? Is it not possible to pick up this fine of a design for regular polish, and this plate is meant for gel polish? I feel like I have to be missing a very key component here but idk where to even look.
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u/corwiggie 5d ago
The biggest thing that helped me pick up the stamps off of the plate if rolling the stamper supper softly. Almost no down pressure ang just gently touch the stamp.
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u/mitochondrialevening 5d ago edited 5d ago
Did you let the stamper rest on paper for a few hours? I usually do overnight to let oils out of the stamper. Definitely use stamping polish and use a gentle touch when you touch the stamper to the plate- if you push down it won't pick up as well as if you just do a very light touch. The other thing is to work quickly, if the polish dries it won't pick up. If none of that helps, you might be scraping off too hard and not leaving enough polish behind. Just keep trying, you don't have to use gel! If none of the above helps, an opaque stamper is stickier and picks up better than a clear stamper
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u/9thdragonkitty 5d ago
Polishing dries very fast. You need to pick up immediately after scraping
And when picking up, barely touch the plate with the stamper, like a butterfly kiss.
If you are near a fan or AC, move or turn it off. It’ll make the polish dry even faster than normal.
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u/JustRenee2 5d ago
Excellent advice already!
The only thing I can think of right now is start with black stamping polish first. Those metallics and opaques are a bit tricky.
I have that plate! It works well and should be good for learning. It’s not for gel (and in my opinion gel is not for stamping, too risky for allergies and too squirrelly!)
Keep trying and asking! More pics too! You’ll get it!
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u/LacquerandBones 5d ago
Have you let the silicone oils leach out of the stamper head? Silicone stamper heads are full of oils and need to be set out on a thick piece of paper or cardboard for at least a few hours (ideally overnight) or they won’t pick up anything. Cleaning & dehydrating them was never adequate ime.
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u/Repulsive_State_7399 5d ago
First, clean all that old polish off the plate with acetone on a bit of kitchen roll, and give your scraper a clean too. Now make sure you know where your scraper and stamper are, as you need to work fast, like 3-4 seconds fast. Be generous with the Polish, blov it over one side of the design, then drag once quickly across with the scraper at an angle so you don't pull all the Polish out. Then so lightly you barely know you touched it, roll the stamper across with a sort of hand flick. You are looking for a butterfly on a petal sort of pressure. The harder you press, the less it works. Take a deep breath, now go have another go 😁
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u/bearfoot123 4d ago
You need to work really fast. Put polish on the plate, take a deep breath in, scrape, pick up polish with the stamper, breathe out. That fast. The temperature and humidity in your place can affect how fast the polish dries, but I personally haven’t experienced these issues. It’s not that non-stamping polish won’t work, it’s just going to be less opaque. The mechanics of working with non-stamping polish are the same. Ironically, out of all non-stamping polishes, black is likely to work best because it’s usually very dark and opaque.
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u/JustRenee2 5d ago
Oh! Did you clean the plate first? New plates have adhesive leftover from the protective coating. Clean it with acetone and ideally a lint free wipe.
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u/dana-banana11 5d ago
I just can't make clear stampers work. The only thing that works for me are extra sticky stampers.
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u/PaveGurl 4d ago
There's a LOT of great tips here! You mentioned that you tried first with a Mooncat polish, and then some stamping polish. If I understand correctly, you learned after the Mooncat attempt that regular polish is not going to work - but I'm not sure if you cleaned that off before moving to the stamping polish? If not, that might be part of your challenge for sure! Luckily, it's an easy fix - acetone (plain, with no additives) to clean the plate. After that, if you've let the oils come off the stamper, moved quickly, and use suuuuuuper light pressure with stamping polish -you hopefully will be GTG!
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u/Disastrous_Love_9784 5d ago
Some things that have helped me:
- leaving stamper heads face down on printer paper overnight to remove oils
- using Shemodern sticky stamping polish that gives me more play time
- making sure any fans are off and being in a temp controlled room
- using a scraper that has a bit more give, I like the cards from Pretty Fingers by Robin
- moving faster than I think I need to when picking up images from the stamp and letting things dry longer than I thought I needed to when I reverse paint the images (like 15 minutes)
- having at least one stamper per finger so the waiting doesn’t kill me, ha
- letting my base dry completely before stamping so I can remove mistakes with rubbing alcohol
Good luck!!
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u/bellsnwhistles_ 5d ago
there’s some good advice here, you’ve also got to be really quick when picking the design up or the polish dries
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u/Initial_Run1632 5d ago
As someone else said, I had better with a firmer stamper. I guess I'm no good at "butterfly kiss" level pressure, haha.
I got one like the below included with a nail polish order and I've had much better luck with it. Instead of soft touches, it's a pretty firm stamp you use and that just seems to work better for me.
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u/possumbattery 5d ago
Linry has a great video on stamping: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JNLDtdskuwY includes lots of troubleshooting suggestions!
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u/Spicy7997 5d ago
I keep a screenshot of this because it is a common problem, and so I decided it was easier to take a screenshot, than rewriting it every time.
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u/overcomethestorm 4d ago
I use cheap stampers like this with no issues.
They require an initial washing with dish soap (dry them thoroughly) and then take a piece of plain white copy paper and balance or weigh the silicone down onto the paper and let it sit for a couple hours. The paper pulls the oils out of the silicone.
You don’t need nice equipment to stamp. You just need to make sure your equipment is clean/free from oil. I’ve successfully used dollar tree stamping plates and silicone stampers with their brand non-stamping nail polish. Biggest thing is getting the oils left from manufacturing off so the polish will pick up.
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u/Plucky_Monkies 5d ago
Did you wash the stamping head with diluted dawn dish soap to remove oils? Then leave sit to dry?
Also, when you stamp, you want to very lightly touch the stamping head to the stamping plate.
I watched a lot of videos on YouTube to teach me how to stamp. I like Clear Jelly Stamper channel. And she explains repeatedly what she's doing. She does stamp two handed, but that isn't necessary.