Art Lesson for January 2009

How to Carve Your Own Rubber Stamps

This is a short lesson on Carving Your Own Rubber Stamps.  I have used the brown blocky erasers, pink erasers, white erasers and the speedy block material put out by Speedball.  All work fine.  I have glued them to wood and then realized I need a cushion for good impressions.  I have also posted photos on Flickr.com for inspiration.   If you have any questions, please feel free to email me  Donnalda@msn.com

How to Use Your Hand Carved Stamps

You can use regular stamping inks for your stamps.  You can also use water base markers, just huff on the stamp before you stamp to rewet the marker.  To huff: Force air out of your mouth like you do to check if you have bad breath.  This small amount of moisture is just enough.  Clean your stamps with a 50/50 mixture of glass cleaner and water and a paper towel.  You can also spray a green scrubber first and rub the stamp over it, then dry with a paper towel.  You can use Acrylic Paints if you wash the stamp immediately after using.  I keep a small bowl of water handy and a kitchen towel.  Dunk the stamp and wipe on the towel.

I like to make border stamps.  To make an even border, just mark the contact points (the parts you want to match) on the side of the stamp with a Sharpie, this way you can see where you are stamping and can make excellent borders.  To make reverse or mirror images, just flip the paper over and trace through the back, transfer onto the eraser and cut.  This helps with words also.