Stamps - General Information

Picture shown is a mounted rubber stamp. When you purchase an unmounted stamp, just the red rubber portion is shipped

Mounted Rubber Stamps

These are the usual stamps you see everywhere, generally consisting of an image on red rubber (the die), foam padding, and a wooden block

Unmounted Rubber Stamps

Many companies sell just the red rubber die, either individually or in full sheets of many stamps. You can cut these apart with scissors (being careful not to cut into the image) and mount them yourself. You can purchase foam and pre-cut wooden blocks, or cut your own.

Foam Stamps
These stamps are usually chunky shapes and are made entirely from foam. The image portion is about 1/4" thick and it is attached to a piece of foam about 1/2" thick.

Make Your Own Foam Stamps

Choose an image with a lot of surface area for the stamp, not one with fine lines. (Computer clip art packages are great as a source of images)
Trace the image onto fun foam (found in most craft stores), and cut out carefully with exacto knife
Cut a piece of 1/2" fun foam the approximate shape of your stamp, but a little larger. This will act as the cushion.(If you only have 1/4" foam, cut two pieces and glue these together with E6000 glue
Glue your stamp to the cushion.
Place a heavy book on top (carefully so you don't move the pieces) and let stand overnight.
You can cut a wooden block a little larger than your image and glue the stamp and cushion to that for more stability.
Make Shadow Stamps in various sizes - cut with decorative scissors to get a ragged look

Carved Eraser Stamps
Speedball makes a kit that contains a rubber stamp block, two carving tips and a carving handle with instructions. You can trace the image onto the stamp block, or iron on a photocopied or laser printer image. Again, don't choose an image with fine lines, but the image can be more delicate that those used with the foam stamps.

"Simulated" Stamps
I use computer generated clip art, rather than stamps, for some of my images. Just print the appropriate image onto card stock. (It's a good idea to print a test piece first to make sure of your placement). I also print many of my verses on the inside of the card stock before folding, or print the verse on a complimentary color and cut out and layer the piece.
The trees on the card at left were printed on a laser printer. There are many more examples of computer generated clip art throughout the web site.