entry
Multiplying things

1,060 words

State: Advanced

tags: pattern

Stamps for special moments

I've been thinking about making stamps ever since we went on a trip around the world. While traveler visas today are sometimes issued digitally or not at all (i.e., when crossing the border between Schengen countries), there are still countries and border crossings, where you need to get your passport stamped on entry and on exit.

But these are not the only stamps, that can end up in a passport. When visiting Galapagos, salt lakes full of flamingos, the easter islands, tierra del fuego and other places often visited by tourists, we could often get a fancy stamp showing off the location.

Why not make a stamp for yourself and invent your own nation or location? After all, if "they" can issue a stamp, so can we... Well, it's apparently not without risk adding novelty stamps to a passport. The web tells stories about people, that have been prevented from boarding flights and even had to get a new passport, before being able to travel further.

Luckily, stamps can still be used in books or to create patterns on fabrics, cards, parcels and everything else you can think of. It's also a lot of fun with kids.

Materials for stamp making

While there is the well known potato-stamp option, the stamps are not very durable and also don't really seem a good enough option to hold designs with lots of fine details.

I've previously been printing with plates made out of linoleum and plywood. These materials are rather hard to carve and tricky to print without a press. While gouache works as an ink, the ink recommended is not suitable for printing projects with little kids. In total, the process is a lot of work and the outcome depends on a lot of factors.

But, there are also blank rubber-blocks sold for stamp making (learning this, was the trigger for this little project). Maybe you have been carving erasers into stamps during school? Rubber is similar in density and hardness – a very soft material, that can be carved using the tools we already have for carving the materials mentioned above. I use ESSDEE blanks (because they are sold at my local art store), but there is a ton of different rubber blanks available on the internet.

Carving is easy. Due to it's softness, there is hardly a danger for the hands. The material still holds fine details. Depending on size, a small inkpad is enough to make prints on paper.

Copying a desing to rubber

While it's easy to print an image on paper, transfering a design to rubber seems tricky. The easiest method to achieve a carveable design on rubber, is the toner transfer method. Using a dab of acetone it's simple, to transfer a laser print to a piece of rubber:

  • Print the design on paper using a laser printer. I used an old brother printer (black only)
  • Cut it out and place it facedown on the rubber
  • Using a cotton pad, dab the backside of the paper with acetone. Part of the toner will stick to the rubber
  • Wait until it's dry
  • Start carving using carving tools. An x-acto knife also seems to work very well
  • When finished glue the rubber on a piece of wood, use an inkpad and start stamping
  • Closely look at the outcome and adjust some edges if necessary

This also directly mirrors the print thus making it easy to make text prints - no need to mirror the design. Not all printers seem to work equally well - the outcome most probably depends on heat applied during printing and also on toner. Also using to much acetone can disolve details and make for a hazy transfer. But everything can be fixed while carving.

Carving

Carving precise lines is harder than it seems. I normally carve the outline of the print (i.e., the black stuff from the transfer stays, the rest has to go).

I don't cut through the whole rubber assuming, that this gives the stamp more durability and stability. Cutting an incline supposedly results in a more durable stamp where details are less prone to break away.

Stamping

The following image shows a first attempt – a homemade stamp of the Hirschelbrummbär. The size is 4.5cm x 4.5cm, the stamp is mounted on a wooden block that can be used as a crude handle.

A foto of the final rubber stamp on display on a wooden table. The design shows the hirschelbrummbär-logo. The handle is a block of wood.

And the outcome. Quality varies a bit, a second "press" is lighter in colour, but more uniform and tends to have less of the slight fabric pattern.

A foto of the print in black ink on cheap paper.

Missing things

  • The printing shows a fabric pattern, maybe from the inkpad. Maybe it works better with different paper?
  • Not sure, if slightly sanding the block leads to better outcomes
  • I'll have to try different Inks
  • More stamps

Sources