Personalise your stationary with stamps

I wrote this piece on making your own stamps in an earlier blog. You can either make your own stamps or use shop bought ones to decorate plain stationary as we have done in the picture shown here.

Materials and techniques

CUTTING A STAMP FROM A FOAM SHEET

You will need;

2mm thick foam sheet

tracing paper

fine marker pen

pencil

sharp craft knife

cutting mat

Instructions;

1. Trace off your chosen motif, by placing the tracing paper over the image, holding the paper firm trace around the edges of the motif carefully, with a sharp pencil.

2. Place the tracing paper with the image drawn on it on to the cutting mat. Slowly and steadily cut out the image with the craft knife. Hold the knife as you would a pencil and carefully cut towards yourself, as if you were drawing over the traced lines. Remove the cut out image from the rest of the tracing paper.

3. Lay the cut out image onto the foam sheet, holding it firmly in place, use this as a template and draw around it with a fine marker pen. Remove the traced off template to reveal the motif on the foam sheet.

4. Take the sharp craft knife and very carefully cut along the marker line. Keep your hand steady and try to cut in one long smooth stroke, as stopping and starting can make the cut a little jagged. Remove the cut out image from the rest of the sheet. This is your stamp.

Because the foam sheet has an identical surface on the back it is possible to flip the stamp over and use the reverse as a mirror image.

CUTTING A STAMP FROM LINO

You will need;

lino

lino cutting tool

sharp craft knife

tracing paper

carbon paper

sharp pencil

cutting mat

Instructions;

1. Place the tracing paper on the image you wish to use , hold the paper steady and firm, then carefully trace it off with a sharp pencil. Lay the lino down, with the smooth side facing up, then place a sheet of carbon paper, carbon side down onto the lino and place the reversed traced image over that. The traced image should be reversed so that when it is cut out it will be identical to the template, otherwise it will be the wrong way round.

2. Draw heavily over the traced outline, so that the image will transfer through the carbon paper onto the lino. When you remove the tracing and carbon paper the image should be clear, if not touch it up with the pencil, copying the template.

3. Place the lino on to the cutting mat and cut around the entire outline of the motif  with the craft knife, to remove the excess lino. With the no.1 lino cutting tool begin to score along the marked lines. Hold the tool firmly, push the blade into the lino and push it away from your self, the blade will pick up the lino, remove it and score into the surface.

4. If you have larger areas of lino to remove change the blade to a no.2 or 3 and proceed to score the lino out, keeping the lino tool going away from your body.

Remember that it’s the lino that  remains which will make the impression when stamped. The lino that has been scored out will not stamp, only the lino that now stands proud of the base.

CUTTING A STAMP FROM A POTATO

You will need;

a potato

sharp knife

felt tip pen

chopping board

kitchen paper

craft knife

Instructions;

1. Place the potato on the chopping board and cut it in half with the sharp knife, do this in one smooth motion so that the surface is dead straight. Draw your motif directly onto the potato with the felt tip pen. It is best to keep the motif very simple.

2. Take the craft knife and carefully score out the excess potato. Make one cut on an angle and make the next cut at an angle to that so they meet in a V, remove the background. Stamp the potato on the kitchen towel to dry off the moisture.

A potato stamp will only last for a few hours, so begin to stamp immediately. If you keep a copy of the design you can then use a fresh potato if you need to.

APPLYING PAINT

The most even way to apply paint is to apply it with a small sponge roller, these are available from art and craft suppliers. Pour a small amount of paint onto a flat plate and roll the roller over the paint, until its evenly covered. Proceed to roll the paint over the stamp surface, a lino roller is actually made from rubber rather than sponge. When stamping with  lino use a lino roller to apply the paint.

A brush is probably the most common way of applying paint to a stamp, the advantages of this is that you are in complete control over the amount of paint you want to add. You can brush different colours onto the same stamp to create varied effects, see the bird stamp on page 00. However, the down side is that, especially on fabric, brush marks are clearly visible once you have stamped the motif down. Many of you may like this effect, but if you don’t you can always touch it up with a fine paint brush.

If you are stamping with a sponge, the simplest way to apply the paint is to dip the sponge into the paint. Pour the paint into a flat plate and spread it out into an even thin layer and then dip. Ensure that the sponge is evenly coated before you stamp with it. In fact the best advice is to have a practice run to get the feel of the stamp, before you begin stamping for real.

MAKING A PAINT PAD

An alternative method to apply paint to your stamps, other than the ways listed above, is to use a paint pad. This is used by simply pressing the stamp firmly onto the pad until it is covered with paint. You can buy ink pads especially for stamping, however, ink may not be suitable for your project. Make your own paint pad to apply paint to your stamp. The ideal container for such a pad is a plastic tub with a lid, so that the paint doesn’t dry out when you have finished using the

You will need;

plastic container with a lid, e.g., margarine tub

domestic sponge

spatula

muslin or thin cotton fabric

large spoon

paint

Instructions;

1. Cut the sponge so that it fits into the plastic container. Wrap the sponge in the muslin or cotton fabric and place it into the container.

2. Dilute the paint that you wish to have in your ink pad and then pour it directly onto the cotton covered sponge. Spread and firmly press the paint evenly around the ink pad with a spatula, until it has been absorbed by the sponge.