If you’ve been interested in getting into printmaking, then this tutorial is a great place to start. This post will show you how to make your own DIY stamps out of rubber erasers.
Printmaking is a really fun way to get creative because the design possibilities are endless from what you carve to how you put it on the paper. Using an eraser as your carving base is also a good place to start as a beginner because it’s a small and manageable canvas.
Printmaking supplies to make DIY stamps
Here are all of the supplies you need to make your own DIY stamps out of rubber erasers.
- Rubber erasers
- Lino cutter
- Brayer
- Printing ink
- Cardstock paper
Using the linoleum cutter
The linoleum or “lino” cutter will be the tool you use to carve out the design for your DIY stamp. It will come with multiple different blades that you can use depending on the amount you are cutting out.
To attach the blade to the handle, twist the silver holder at the top to loosen it. You will then be able to stick one of the blades into the top. Be sure to put the round end into the holder. Then, twist the silver holder the other way to tighten it and secure the blade on top.
When you’re done, you can follow a similar process to take the blade out. As a bonus, most lino cutters are made to hold the blades inside the handle so you can unscrew the bottom and put the blades inside for easy storage.
How to make your own DIY stamps out of rubber erasers
Now that you have your supplies, let’s get into the steps to make prints out of DIY stamps.
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.
What should you carve out of your eraser to create a DIY stamp?
If you are thinking about what type of print you want to make, there are lots of different options. You can make something graphic, like this design that has intersecting lines.
Or, you can make something like a picture of an item. For example, I also experimented with a leaf stamp.
Here are some general ideas to get you started:
- Graphic designs: Lines, patterns, etc.
- Shapes: Circles, diamonds, hearts ,etc.
- Letters or words
- Items from nature: Leaves, flowers, etc.
What type of ink should you use with your DIY stamps
The best type of ink to use is block printing ink. For this tutorial, I used Speedball block printing ink.
Once you start to get the hang of it, you can try out different inks and printmaking designs. For example, you can experiment with printing in black and white vs. color ink.
As an alternative, you can also use an ink pad found in most craft supply stores and pressing the stamp on to the ink pad instead of using the brayer to roll on the ink.
Comment below and let me know what types of DIY stamps you make!