# Brass Soap Stamp



## TeresaT (Mar 8, 2016)

It's here!  I just received my stamp from China.  It is beautiful.  Now, I have to learn how to use it.  My trials weren't that great...


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## shunt2011 (Mar 8, 2016)

That's really pretty


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## navigator9 (Mar 8, 2016)

Have you tried stamping through a piece of saran wrap? It looks very detailed, and hopefully the saran wrap would help. Is it a dragon, it's hard to tell from the pic.


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## TeresaT (Mar 8, 2016)

navigator9 said:


> Have you tried stamping through a piece of saran wrap? It looks very detailed, and hopefully the saran wrap would help. Is it a dragon, it's hard to tell from the pic.



No, that never occurred to me.  I just got the stamp today and grabbed a couple of bars of soap I had on the shelf.  They're pretty hard bars, so that may be an issue.  On of the things the website said to do was to put a light layer of oil on it to keep it from sticking.  I'll try the Saran Wrap, though. 

It's not a dragon.  It's actually a "T" with Ivy around it.  I took the photo with my iPhone and that always puts things sideways for some reason.  Very odd.  I bought it on Etsy from BlackMarketIntl.  The design is actually for a wax sealing stamp, but they agreed to do it for a soap stamp.  Here's a screenshot of the alphabet that I selected.  There are tons of stamps available on the site and they'll take custom designs, too.  I had several emails back and forth with Annie regarding my stamp before I placed the order.  She was very nice.  I'm going to order from them again.


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## DeeAnna (Mar 8, 2016)

Another thing the food wrap might help with is keeping the brass from contacting the soap. Brass is a mixture of copper with zinc and sometimes other metals. I hate to say this, but the copper might trigger spots of DOS. Not saying it will, but it's a possibility to keep in mind.

I think it's a very pretty stamp, and I hope you can get it to work well on your soap!


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## navigator9 (Mar 8, 2016)

Sometimes, especially if a stamp is really detailed, soap will stick in some of the smaller areas, and you won't get a clean impression. nframe posted the tip about using saran wrap and it really works amazingly well. You get a nice, clean impression and you don't have to worry about cleaning the stamp when soap gets stuck in all the little details. 

Now I see that it's a "T", with ivy twined around it. It's very pretty, I wish you luck with it.


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## DeeAnna (Mar 8, 2016)

I stared at the stamp for a minute .... geeze, I can't see a "T" in there ... and then a very dim light went on in my brain ... I realized the "T" has to be backwards on the stamp. Duh.


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## topofmurrayhill (Mar 8, 2016)

TeresaT said:


> It's here!  I just received my stamp from China.  It is beautiful.  Now, I have to learn how to use it.  My trials weren't that great...



As per DeeAnna, here is what brass can potentially do to your soap:

http://www.soapmakingforum.com/showthread.php?t=58393

Copper is a very powerful catalyst for DOS. I'd go with the plastic film if possible.

In the meantime you could maybe stamp a test soap directly and put it away to see what happens. Preferably an uncolored one without stabilizers.


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## TeresaT (Mar 9, 2016)

DeeAnna & TOMH, thanks for that information.  I had no idea.  Now I know why wooden stamps are preferred.  The other bar of soap that I stamped happens to be my March whipped soap entry, so I can't show it.  :wink:  The soap is light colored and the stamp does show up well (all five of them on the same slice!).  I'll definitely keep an eye on that for DOS in the stamped images.  I'll also use the Saran Wrap on the next run.  I'm going to do some experimenting as well.  I'll try stamping a bar with the stamp coated in mica, in glycerine, in olive oil, then bare and see if any develop DOS.  I wonder if putting a liquid barrier will prevent it or if it would have to be a solid barrier.  It should be interesting.  If I can't use the stamp for soap, then I guess I'll buy wax and have a fancy way of sealing the packaging.  :think:



DeeAnna said:


> I stared at the stamp for a minute .... geeze, I can't see a "T" in there ... and then a very dim light went on in my brain ... I realized the "T" has to be backwards on the stamp. Duh.




Of course it does not help that the stupid photo is sideways! As soon as I saw it, I had to have it.  I totally fell in love with the font.


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