On the whole the industry seems to be moving away from wooden backed craft stamps in favour of clear polymer or cling stamps, in view of this I thought it may be useful to look at the pros and cons of all these types.
Clear Craft Stamps: Pros
•Easy to store.
•Shipping tends to be cheaper.
•There are some quality image stamps producing highly effective results available on the market.
•Accurate positioning as you can visualise where your stamped image will be reproduced.
•You can place a number of clear stamps on the one block to produce your finished result.
•Tend to be cheaper than traditional rubber stamps.
Clear Craft Stamps : Cons
•Some have a tendency to yellow over time, though this does not affect the quality of the stamped image.
•You need a clear acrylic block large enough to hold your stamp.
•Image quality tends to be inferior to traditional rubber.
•The stamps are softer, prone to tearing and stretching – caution is needed when removing them from their backing sheet.
•Beware of those of a lesser quality.
Wooden Backed Craft Stamps: Pros
•The rubber is permanently fixed to the wood, so its ready for immediate use.
•Large selection with varying degrees of intricacy.
•With a growing range of clear stamps some of the wooden designs are being discontinued. For those companies replacing their designs with clear alternatives the wooden designs maybe offered up for sale at a discounted rate.
•The quality of the printed image tends to be much clearer than those produced from polymer.
Wooden Backed Craft Stamps: Cons
•Bulky – so shipping tends to be more expensive.
Cling Craft Stamps: Pros
•Offers the balance between the convenience of cling being easy to store, with the quality of a rubber image.
Cling Craft Stamps: Cons
•Like the cling you will need an acrylic block.