Shiny Self Inking Custom Text Printing Kit (S-883)

My review won't prove helpful for the majority of folks who want to use this product as intended. As an avid Postcrosser (international postcard exchanges) and frequent snail mailer, I discovered a very successful and cost effective way--albeit inelegant--to make multiple permanent stamps from this set. So DIYers, read on......I need to use a high quality, fast drying all-surface ink pad for my stamping, one that accommodates even a glossy finish. Most run-off-the mill inks, like the one included here, will leave a blurred imprint on slick paper. So ignoring the instructions, I did not assemble my stamp. I added the desired letters to the plate, ink the plate with one my colorful specialty pads, and then press the plate directly onto the paper. The backsides of the included (2) plates conveniently have a 1/2" piece of proprietary plastic (meant to fit into the stamping case) which functions as a dandy handle. Works like a charm and leaves a totally crisp and clean impression; more than I could have hoped! I store the plates, loaded up with my phrase of choice, "kindly deliver to", in a little glassine bag; I use them nearly daily on my outgoing postcards and the rubber letters remain completely attached and secure. The tiny letters are ideal for a small surface spaces like postcards. Anyone who has worked with an acrylic stamping block won't find this method too far fetched.But...here I am with all these extra unused letters. I didn't want to be pulling off/putting letters onto the plates for every new word I want to stamp. I wondered if I could fashion my own stamps from these, but I had no more plates. Turns out bottle caps (I chose the green plastic ones from Dasani water bottles) are sturdy and perfectly flat. I used tacky glue--the crafter's kind that goes on goopy and white but slowly cures to a clear, firm bond--and gently set each letter into the glue to spell out my word/phrase of choice. It works, perfectly! (Took about five minutes, per stamp, to ensure I'd placed each tiny letter as flush and aligned as possible, and then I allowed them to sit overnight.) Wow, you'd never know from the results that it was printed via glue and bottle lid! Clean every time--not even the 'outline' or corner edges that you see from inferior, poorly seated stamps. And I still have dozens of these letters remaining...even after making 6 bottle lid stamps. :-)I wanted a more permanent way to make multiple stamps and this set from Shiny did the trick. The rubber letters are forgiving, don't rip, 'snap' beautifully into the plate (for the intended use) and, in both sizes, have enough letters to spell virtually whatever you'd like. Dudes with big fingers and the less graceful among us may struggle with removing them from the typeset plates--the included tweezers are a joke--but they're surprisingly easy to work with when you use the right tool (read: decent tweezers) and my only gripe is the exclusion of a colon in the 3mm set; I had to craft my own using two periods. Otherwise, what fun!!

We wanted a deposit stamp to endorse many club member dues checks. Handwriting was just too tedious for large batches of checks. But we also didn't want to spend money on one when we may change banks in the future. Because our small club is spread over several states, when we vote in a new treasurer, that person needs to use a bank close to them. We needed more flexibility, instead of a stamp that would be thrown away eventually.I didn't use the silly tweezers, just my fingers to pick out and seat each character. Tricky, but I didn't drop or lose any of them. Just worked over a light colored surface that would catch them if they fell. I found that placing the next character farther to the left and then sliding it in place worked best. I think it also helped seat the tiny individual pieces. At least it worked for me, and once I got the hang of it, it went fairly fast.I used the larger type, but the smaller type would have been just fine. There were plenty of letters/numbers and space to spell out the long, 32 character club name on two lines and the account number on another line for a deposit stamp, although I had to use the letter O for one of the zeroes. They seem to be identical, so no problem, but you may want to count the number of each character you will need before you buy. At this price, you don't want to have to buy more.With the larger type, there are 5 of each of the Roman alphabet characters A through Z, and 4 of each number except zero (only 3 of those). The smaller type has the same amount of Roman alphabet characters, but 8 of each number. All are upper case. In addition, there are special characters, such as letters with diacritical marks, dollar and Euro signs, punctuation, and other misc. characters and icons. The type prints clearly and evenly if you take reasonable care to place the characters and make sure they are seated well. I'm very happy so far.I did find the instructions lacking in that they don't show adequate photos of how the platen goes in. But like any puzzle, I spent a few minutes reading the instructions over and just looking at the stamp to figure it out. It's not rocket science, but they could have made it easier with one close up photo of the correct insertion position.

The little letters are a pain to put on and remove, but once you have them on, they stay in pretty good. I have used it for several days and occasionally if I press down too hard the lock engages, but it's still working as intended. I wish there were some extra plates you could buy.Note to install plate: If you look at the picture first picture, you will see the bottom standing straight up. Take the part with the squeeze (See second picture), that is the top, and push down until the device in the bottom is standing straight up with the notch facing you (You can lock it in this position if you need to by pushing on the red buttons on the side). Insert the plate down in the hole with the squeeze section into the notch until it clicks. Push again to unlock and your plate is installed!To Remove: Again, push down to tit the bottom to the middle position where the squeeze is facing you. Squeeze the two sides and pull gently upward. (You can lock it in this position if you need to by pushing on the red buttons on the side).Ink Install: Uncover Ink pad: install the ink plate in the hole above ink face down. (See 4th picture with the circle under the blue top.)Hope this helps someone get their setup faster than I did!