Making your own rubber stamps is easy and fun, but with so many rubber stamps on the market, why would you ever need to make your own? In many instances, the most important reason to do it could be because you would enjoy it. Another reason might be because you need a certain look, and can’t find it anywhere else. The following methods of stamp making will leave both possibilities open. They are fun and easy techniques, and will open up a great new array of stamping possibilities for you.

Foam Board And Rubber Bands

Cut foam board into a 4X6 piece, and wrap rubber bands diagonally around the foam board in different directions. You can use different width rubber bands, and use as many as you want. Take a foam brush, and paint the board with as many colors as you want. Then use your foam board as your stamp and voila, you have an original geometric background.

Got Rubber?

Do you trim your own rubber stamps before mounting? If you trim your own stamps before mounting, you could use your left over rubber and mount them to form background stamps. I had many rubber strips that make good “lines” for stamping. But I have plenty of triangles and rectangles too. You can put several together on one block. Some of my favorite stamps have been from leftover rubber. It is recycling at it’s best!

Penscore or Magic Stamps

Penscore or Magic Stamps are a foam block that can be shaped and reshaped, depending on your needs. Add a little heat to this and it will mold. So, for example, it you want a background of key shapes, you would have several keys available. Use a heating tool and heat the Penscore or Magic Stamps as directed for about 1 – 1 ½ minutes. Turn the heated side over and onto the items to be molded, and press firmly for about 15 seconds. If you do not like the impression that was made, you can reheat the Penscore or Magic Stamps and try again. When you are satisfied with the impression you can ink the image and stamp with it as many times as you like. If you no longer want that image, you can reheat the image and start all over again.

Beside keys as backgrounds, you can use baby diaper pins for a baby’s card, doilies for a fancy lace look, or paper clips or even rice.

Erasers or Speedball

Speedball make a carving block and carving set that can be used to cut images and use as stamps. The same process can be cut into a rubber eraser. Draw a simple image with thick lines onto the carving block or eraser. Use the Speedball carving set to carve out the lines. You can ink this block up as you would any other stamp, and clean it the same way too. The stamp can be used multiple times.