Find Out About Friday - How to Assemble (or mend) a Stampin' Up! Ink Pad

On our recent visit to the Stampin' Up! Manufacturing Plant in Kanab one of the things we were shown was how the Stampin' Up! Ink Pads are made and how the exclusive cases are assembled.  I love the design of our ink pads as they are so easy to use, the ink is always ready to go and the lid never gets lost.  

However very occasionally they do come apart, so for this week's Find Out About Friday I thought I would show you how they are assembled so should that ever happen to you, you will know how to put them back together.  Once you know how it is done it can be a quick and mess free process.

I hope you have found this video helpful and if you would like more information on Stampin' Up! Ink Pads or any other products please do get in touch bekka@feeling-crafty.co.uk

Happy Stampin'

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Find Out About Friday - How Stampin' Up! Stamps Are Made

Earlier this week I told you a bit about our trip to the Stampin' Up! Kanab Manufacturing Plant and today I thought I would share with you what we learned about how the beautiful Stampin' Up! Stamps are made.

The process all starts with the beautiful artwork that is created by the lovely Kathy and her team in Riverton. Once finalised it is grouped to make best use of the rubber and then sent to have a metal plate etched.

This metal plate is used to make Matrix Boards of the Stamp Set which is kind of like a negative mold for the rubber.  

The solid board us put in a machine with the metal plate and under heat and pressure the images are pressed into the board.  Several Matrix Boards are created for each stamp set as the machines take these in batches of four.

A die is also made to cut the rubber and these are stored along with the Matrix Boards in the room where the rubber is cut to size.

The rubber itself comes in huge rolls.

After it is cut to the right size it goes through to the area where the magic happens!  The rubber is put on the Matrix Boards and together with a release sheet they are put in a special vulcanizer machine which applies heat (a lot of heat!) and melts the rubber into the Matrix Board Mold.  These are then taken out of the machine, The Matrix Boards removed and stacked ready to be reused

The rubber is trimmed with a large guillotine and left to cool.

The stamps are then stuck onto a foam backing

The next stage in the process is to die cut the stamps.  Check out this video to see how it is done.

Next the Stamps are packed into their boxes.  We got to have a go at this - I was quite slow compared to the people who do this all day, but here am I with the lovely Lenora having actually managed to do it!

For the wood mount sets they have a packing diagram to help them get everything in the box easily!  Given the number of stamps in some of our stamp sets, how good would it be to have these for them - well here is the one for Moasic Madness

The completed stamp sets are then packed onto pallets ready for distribution and their new owners.

I loved the chance to experience how the beautiful stamp sets are made and the whole trip to the manufacturing plant was one of the highlights of the Incentive Trip for me.  I came away with a whole new appreciation of our products and was inspired by the love and care that goes into their manufacture.

If you would like to know more about the wonderful range of Stampin' Up! products please do get in touch.

Happy Stampin' 

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A Visit to the Stampin' Up! Kanab Manufacturing Plant

Yesterday I told you about our visit to the Stampin' Up! Home Office in Riverton and how that had been one of the things on the Incentive Trip that I was really looking forward to, well today I am going to tell you about our visit the next day to Kanab where Stampin' Up! have their manufacturing facility.  If anything I was even more excited about this as I was fascinated to know how the wonderful stamps we use are actually made.  I must have been excited as the very very early start and the long journey did not worry me!

As it turned out part of our journey made the news - we travelled in a specially chartered airplane and it was the largest ever to land at the St George Airport!  You can read all about it here.

After the long journey this is how we were greeted

Just in time for lunch - a lovely BBQ and more beautiful place settings

After lunch we were shown around the manufacturing unit by the lovey Rob who is in charge of production scheduling and warehousing.  

I will tell you more about the production process in a future Find Out About Friday Posts, but how about this as a view out of your warehouse!

Also on the site is a flat for the family when they stay - it was beautiful and very much as I imagined Shelli's house to be!

We had a little time on the way home to visit the playground that Stampin' Up! refurbished (in honor of Shelli's husband Sterling's father).  The ground in covered in scraps of rubber from the plant and it is so so springy to walk on!

You do have to wonder what anyone who turned up to use the playground would have thought as four coachloads of very excited Demonstrators descended on it and were more interested in the floor than the climbing frames!

The views were stunning

And as ever a reminder of what Stampin' Up! is all about - playtime!

I was glad we got to get some fresh air before another really long journey home!

If you would like to see more photos from this visit please check out my Facebook Page here

I loved my time at the plant and was touched by the welcome and generosity of the all staff.  It is fantastic to know first hand the love and care that goes into the products we love to use.  If you would like to know more about these products please email bekka@feeling-crafty.co.uk

Happy Stampin'

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