Nancy McCartney -

Are you thinking of using rubber stamps and ink pads?  It was a little unclear
from your message.

If so, we used self-inking stamps in a Discovery Center so visitors could make
their own Gold Rush lettersheets - a partcular type of illustrated stationary.
The self-inking stamps avoided the need for a separate ink pad.  The stamps,
made of metal, were mounted in a wooden framework with hinges so the stamps
could be raised, the provided blue paper inserted, and press down to make the
image.  The exhibition which included this Discovery Center was very popular,
often crowded.  Visitors loved the stamps.  We went through 30 reams of paper.

All that said, we come to the cautions.
This was an unsupervised activity.  Lots of people made lettersheets with care
to take home; lots of people took a whack at it and left the trash behind.

With the heavy usage, the stamps tended to break.  We often had to reinsert
the ink pads or fuss with the stamps to get them out of "lock" mode.

With the heavy usage, we had to feed new ink to the ink pads on a daily basis.

There was a certain amount of mess.  In the 6-month run, ink got pretty well
distributed on the wooden framework holding the stamps but not elsewhere in
the exhibit.  The cleaning fluid 409 works wonders in cleaning up distributed
ink.

The exhibit is travelling, and we have recommended that stamps not be put out
for general public access.  But they were so popular, that the next venue is
working out school programming that would make use of the stamps.  Too bad for
all those adult women I observed carefully making a lettersheet with
illustrations all round the edge!

If you have further questions, don't hesitate to call.  510-238-3842

Deborah Cooper
Museum Collections Coordinator
Oakland Museum of California