As a stamper, I use my clear acrylic blocks almost daily. And I try to wipe them down and keep them clear- but then something weird happens over time. They get cloudy!
I wonder why that is? I’m sure there is some chemical explanation. But the cloudiness isn’t just on the surface- it’s actually INSIDE the acrylic block.
Before- cloudy and gross!
I use these blocks as palettes and polymer clay- but lately I’ve been running out of blocks that I can use for stamping. And while they are not super expensive, I hate to spend money to replace things that could be fixed? So I set out to fix them!
I did a little bit of searching, and I found a person that fixed her acrylic cutting pads with heat. I also found a video where a lady made her blocks clear with a heat tool, but mine were WAYYYY worse. So I decided to try it out.
Here’s an edited version of the live periscope that I did demonstrating how to use a heat tool to clear them up!
And VOILA! Clean and clear. There is still some minimal crazing, but my friend Darryl (@Cutterpunk) said that basically you re-anneal the acrylic with heat, which clears up the cloudiness. And if there are still ink smudges, you can use Staz-on Cleaner to take that off.
After- clear and usable!
Not a great pic of me, necessarily, but you can see that the block is clear and restored. It’s not perfect, but I just saved myself a few bucks-and we know that a dollar saved is a dollar earned to go spend on new crafting goodies, right?
I hope you enjoyed this tip- please considering sharing this with your crafty friends or pinning the tip for later. And leave me a comment if you try it!
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Has it stayed clear?
Do you have the video about fixing cutting plates? I would love to see it. A lady at a craft show said I should put my pad in HOT water in a jellyroll pan, and it will straighten out. It did work once, but not the next time I tried it. The lady at scrapbooking made simple said we should (she got her info directly from Sizzix) cut on the concave side to even it out. I try to remember to do that. The bowing has been pretty severe before…
Great tips! FYI, your link to the cutting pads leads to a ruler on Amazon, nothing to do with acrylic plates. I’m very curious how that would work.
Mine has yet to do that! I recently had to do mine because of ink & glue residues.
First Goo-Gone, which took off some of the ink, then fusion ink cleaner, then hot soapy wzter. They look great again, but now I will definitely be watching out for clouding!
Thanks for the warning
Are your stamping pads a name brand? Maybe they have a warranty that could get you new ones?
Great tip!! Thanks for sharing it!
By heating the blocks do. U have any warping or anything?
That clouding thing is so weird. I have, like, a huge bunch of acrylic blocks. I use them every day. I have never had that happen to my blocks (just lucky???). I wonder what chemical/technique you’re using/doing that causes it. I will definitely remember your heatgun save if it does happen. Thanks for doing the experimenting for all of us. Love your posts and videos.
Hi! I found that using the Novus2 cleaner that we use to clean the MISTI, works for this problem also. I didn’t have very good luck with my heat tool, maybe I don’t have a very good heat tool, but the Novus 2 worked.