Carrier For Scanning Stamps

What do you use as a carrier when you are scanning stamps? I use Lighthouse Vario or similar stock sheets but I find that loose fibres, etc, from the stamps soon builds up and is almost impossible to clean out.

I scan on the glass, no mounts, place a black card over the back and scan. I couldn't loose the lint either! Straighten up if required with IrFan View.

Yes, dust is problem. I use old Hagner pieces that have come with auction purchases. If one gets funky, I just look for another one to replace it. The plastic covering is nice and clear, but it does attract and hold particles.

Thanks, chaps. I guess this is a case of the simplest idea being the best. Placing the stamps directly on the scanner glass was how I went about it originally but I got fed up of having to correct the images for uprightness. Taping the black background to the scanner lid is a great idea. It was usually the placing of a black backer over the stamps was the greatest cause of them getting out of alignment. And the alignment of stamps in a stock sheet is not a given. I don't like pressing them too hard into the holding strips so they will quite often get out of place when the stock sheet is flipped over.

Frank.

I place the stamps directly on the glass, then scan the entire platen at once. I then use the StampFix app I wrote to extract the individual stamps from the scan, straighten, and crop. This way, the stamps don't have to be in any particular position or orientation on the scanner, like so:



To get a black background, I bought a sheet of Strathmore Chromolux black from Hobby Lobby and attached it to my scanner lid with double-sided tape. It's not too matte, not too glossy, and gives a nice, consistent black background without the fibers you get with rougher construction papers or posterboard.