Stamp School: Carve Your Own!

Hi friends! How would you like to have rubber stamps as unique as your imagination?Well, you can if you carve your own! Today I am going to take you step-by-step through the process of designing and carving a stamp. We will be using a soft printmaking block but you can also use an eraser. If you ever did a linoleum carving in school you know the basic process but don’t worry, these blocks are so much quicker and easier to carve and they stamp better too! Here is a collection of stamps I have carved with soft blocks over the years:

All of the supplies I am using in Today’s tutorial were in the June Smart Art Box, a subscription box that delivers art supplies to your door each month, you can also find a full list of supplies below. Feel free to skip ahead in the video if it feels too long, I kept it real-time with a lot of tips and advice for beginners. I hope you find this tutorial helpful.

Video!

For smaller projects erasers from the dollar store are ideal and I have never had any issues with them deteriorating with use. It is also an inexpensive way to start as you can make a simple design with a craft knife and eraser but I will say the lino carving tools are safer and more effective.

Supplies:

• Soft carving block
• Linoleum carving tool set
• Printing inks (You can use any stamping ink pads or acrylic paints too!)
• Soft rubber brayer (to apply ink)
• Paper (The kit comes with Stathmore watercolor postcards but any smooth paper will suffice)

*You will also want a tile or plastic packaging to squirt ink on and baby wipes or paper towels for clean up.

Directions:
1. Sketch or transfer your design on the soft carving block.
2. Working from largest tools to smallest remove a layer of rubber around your design. Use the smaller tools for details.
3. Clean the plate and ink it up with your brayer and pull a test print.
4. Carve away any areas you don’t want to print.
5. Clean the plate and make as many prints as you like.

You can use your hand carved stamps just like any of your store-bought rubber stamps (Except for high heat applications like ironing velvet or stamping in molten embossing powder, I’m not sure if they can handle the heat.)

I want to thank Smart Art Box for sponsoring today’s video, check out their monthly subscription boxes that contain everything you need to get started in a different type of art every month. You can also find select past boxes for purchase on their website. Thanks for stopping by and til next time happy crafting!