Did you know that you can make your own stamps?

Stamps are great to use for decorating papers with playful images and messages. Stamps which are manufactured and can be purchased at a store are fun, but if you are an artistic person and you want to create your own stamp designs, it is entirely possible to.

How to Make Your Own Stamps

One way to make your own stamps is to use a material called Magic Stamp which is a foam based material which is malleable when heat is applied to it. Small flat objects can be pressed into the material when it is heated to create an impression in the foam. When the foam cools, it retains the impression of the object and can then be used as a stamp. The Magic Stamp foam can also be reused, because when the material is heated up it loses its form and the impression of the previous stamp.

As a child you may remember making stamps out of a half potato or apple. The potatoes were cut in half, and a simple drawing such as a star was traced on the freshly cut portion of the potato. The area around the star was cut away using an x-acto blade to leave a raised star image which could then be pressed in the ink and stamped onto paper.

The same concept applies when making your own stamps out of rubber. Some people choose to use materials such as erasers or foam to make stamps, but actual stamp rubber can be purchased from rubber stamp suppliers to make your own stamps. If you have a stamp press to use, it can make the stamp image in the stamp rubber.

If you don’t have a stamp press and prefer to hand cut stamps, an image for the stamp can be drawn on to a rubber eraser. If you cannot draw freehand, try drawing on a piece of paper, rubbing the back of the drawing with graphite, and then laying the drawing over the eraser. If you trace over the drawing, the graphite from the back will press into the rubber leaving an outline of the image.

Once the image is drawn on to the stamp, you can use an x-acto blade to cut away the surrounding areas of the image where the ink will not collect. If an x-acto blade is too large to cut away from a delicate design, any other sharp object can be used as a tool if it creates the desired mark in the rubber stamp. When all of the surrounding rubber has been cut away from the stamp design, it needs to be backed with a softer material such as sponge, and the sponge can be attached to a harder material such as a piece of wood. The eraser will not stamp as well if it is just inked and then pressed onto paper. It needs some sort of cushioning such as the sponge which gives as it is stamped. The sponge can be attached with strong glue, as can the wooden piece.

There are many online services that lets you design and make your own stamps like USPS.com which offers customized postage.