Sailing Ship
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Gardner Bear
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HISTORY The history of rubber-stamping dates back to the mid 1860’s, although seals have been used on official documents since ancient times and rubber has been used on official documents since the 17th Century. Historians cannot agree on exactly who made the first stamp. Traditionally stamps were created for business use, however in the mid 1970s the art community in the United States began experimenting with picture stamps. Today using stamps for art is found worldwide. The more popular it has become the more uses are found. Stamps have traditionally been associated with paper, however with special dyes you can almost stamp on anything including wood, fabric and food (with the use of food colour pens). MATERIALS To start stamping it is recommended that you purchase the following materials. Stamps – When choosing your stamp it is recommended that a design is chosen that can be used for a number of projects. When choosing a word stamp, I recommend that a plain design is chosen as we have found that some of the more elaborate wording is difficult to stamp. If you wish to build a varied selection quickly, then purchasing children’s stamps (however for perfect results rubber stamps are best) or small wooden kits is recommended. Rubber stamps range from £1.99 to £15+. The price depends on design and size. Stamps are available from most craft shops. It is important to keep them away from heat and sunlight, as these will destroy the rubber. It is also recommended that when storing always place them face down. When stamping if you want to maintain a cleaner, sharper image it is recommended that you clean your stamps after each stamp. To clean stamps you can use either with soap and water, cleaning solution like window cleaner or with special stamp cleaner. Felt-tip pens and watercolours – When choosing pens that are to be used to colour directly onto the stamp choose ones that have a broad tip and are water based. Using water-based products ensures that the stamps can be easily cleaned. Stamp pads – There are many different inks in a selection of colours. Regular or endorsing inks are fast drying and are not suitable for most stamp projects. Pigment inks which are thick and creamy are slower to dry. These inks are ideal for projects like embossing Embossing powders – Again there is a wide selection of colours including metallic, clear and glitters. To create the embossing effect cover your chosen stamp with a slow drying or embossing ink., stamp and cover this with embossing power and heat using a heat gun, toaster, iron or hotplate. For best results use a heat gun. Heating tool – If you wish to emboss you will require a heating tool. There are several ways that you can melt the powder which includes a paint striper, iron, a hot plate or even a spotlight. However to create the best results which is also the safest I recommend a heat gun that is designed for such jobs. These are available from most craft shops. TECHNIQUES Due to the variety of different products on the market there are a vast number of different techniques. Below are just some of them. Basic stamping – This is where you press the stamp onto the ink pad, then position it on the surface you wish to stamp. It is important that you press firmly with the palm of the hand and not to rock as with this method the image will be blurred. It is also recommended not to move your stamp on a multi-coloured stamp pad as you merge the colours on the pad. Masking and repeating – If you want to overlap stamped images you first stamp the full image, then stamp the same image on a separate piece of paper. Cut this out and position it exactly over the original image. Stamp the image again so it overlaps both the cut out and the project. Repeat as required. 3D effect – To create a more 3D effect first stamp the design in the centre of a flat piece of card. Then stamp the image onto a separate piece of card or paper, cut and attach to the card using sticky foam pad. A more effective effect can be created if you remove a piece of the design each time you add another layer, as you would if you were using normal decoupage papers.
Source: Creative Stamping
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