Crafting: Make Your Own Vintage Inspired Stamps

Seven Magpies has certainly inspired me to actually get to work on my New Year's Resolutions! I am excited to share with you a how-to for my very first vintage inspired rubber stamp (and how I used it to make some cards)!

Rubber stamps are incredibly easy to make, this one took me about 15 minutes to create!

Your supplies:

• Pen
• Exacto Knife
• Burens/Buren Tips
• Rubber
• Wood Blocks or Cork
• Wood Glue (The only glue I had available was Epoxy, which didn't work too well with the rubber)
• Ink

Note: I decided to buy a small starter supply from Speedball available here because it includes rubber, a nice wooden handle with two buren heads, and a piece of tracing paper for more intricate designs. You can certainly also find these supplies at your local craft store!

 

I decided to loosely base (and simplify) my stamp off of this vintage print. This is a 1920s-inspired 1960s-made blouse available on Etsy that I think is pretty adorable!

First, cut a square from your block of rubber for easier handling with your Exacto knife. With your cutter tip, engrave the basic design of your piece. Then, use your Exacto knife to cut along the outside of your design (this way there's no messy outline when you stamp it!). Finally, draw the detail of your design with a pencil on your piece of rubber and cut around these lines. Test it out to see if you need to correct any errors!

Next up you will want to pick out a woodblock or cork that matches the size of your design and use your wood glue to attach it to the back. This saves you from getting ink all over your hands when you dip the stamp into ink!

And you're done! I hope this tutorial was helpful and you feel inspired to create your own vintage inspired stamps. They're great for making art, cards, or adding personal touches to just about anything!

Tip: Use the edges you cut off from your main design as more stamps! I loved incorporating these mismatching triangles into designs.

Okay... I may have had way too much fun making stamps. Here are a few more examples I made - they're so easy!

Ellen