Printmaking Basics: How To Make Diy Stamps Out Of Rubber Erasers

Instructions

1. Sketch Your Design
   The first step to make your own DIY stamp is to draw your design as a guideline so you know where to carve. You can use a marker, pen, or pencil to outline the design on the eraser. A few things to keep in mind with your design... The stamp will be a mirror image of how it appears on the page: Your design will be mirrored once you stamp it on the page, so if you are carving something like a letter or words, then you will have to carve it backwards in order for it to appear the right way on the page. What you carve out will be the negative space in the design: When drawing out the design, keep in mind that if you carve out what you colored in, this will become the negative space once you stamp it to the page.

2. Carve Out The Design
   The next step is to carve out the design you drew on the eraser. Using the lino cutter with the blade that seems to match the size of the lines you are carving out. The eraser should carve out pretty easily, and you can always go back in and carve more out (but you can’t add it back!), so I recommend erring on the side of not carving enough vs. going in for a deep carve right away. Remember to always move the blade away from you in case it slips so you don’t accidentally cut yourself. You’ll also want to be mindful of how your other hand is holding the eraser so it’s not in front of the blade.

3. Roll Out The Ink
   The next step is to roll out your ink in preparation to apply it to your stamp. You can use an inking plate or glass for the ink, in this instance I used some old newspaper I had at the house for easier cleanup. Start by putting a line of ink about the width of your brayer, then roll it out up and down. Roll it left to right so the ink ends up evenly on the brayer.

4. Apply The Ink To Your DIY Stamp
   Once your ink is on the brayer, roll it gently on the stamp to get it evenly coated with ink. Then, try a couple of practice stamps on the paper to get a feel for how it looks. From here, you can decide if you want to make any changes to your design or how you want to orient the stamps on the page for your final design. This can also help you get a feel for how much ink to apply to your stamp. If you see white throughout the design, you probably don’t have enough ink on the stamp. If the edges or lines in the design look smudged, you might have too much ink on your stamp.

5. Create A Design With The DIY Stamp
   Now your stamp is ready to print on the page! Because it is a small stamp, you can play around with orienting it different ways and adding it throughout the page to create your own unique prints. You may need to re-apply ink each time you stamp or every few times, so get a feel for it as you go. You’ll also want to be careful to avoid getting ink on your hands and then touching the page.