Stamp story: How to Make Custom Rubber Stamps

Did you know that you can create your own custom rubber stamp for all of your crafting projects?

Do you enjoy creating custom artwork? Are you into making unique holiday cards?

Do you enjoy scrap booking and other home crafts?

Have you ever wished you could make your own rubber stamp for a special project? Now you can.

It used to be that you had to go through a company to have a special mold made. You were subject to a one-time mold setup fee. Then you were required to buy a certain number of the stamps and in the end you still did not own the stamp. The company keeps the mold! Or charges you a high price to get it from them.

What if you only want one stamp? What if you'd like to keep your design safe? The answer is to make your own. It is not as hard as you think.

Here is how you make your own rubber stamp:

Design Creation

Create your design in Black & White on your computer using whatever graphics software you are comfortable with. You can also draw it by hand and either scan it in or use an Intuois drawing pad. If you don't have a scanner you can take your drawing to an office store and have them scan it.
Copy it and Reverse the Black and White in the image so that the black part of the design becomes that part that you will want ink to be on when you stamp it on a piece of paper. Save the reverse image as a separate file from your original design. You will be able to use the original design to create custom stencils later. If you can't get it reversed with your software you can print it using reversing negatives. They come in the kit with the Art Stamp Maker.
Print your reverse image design onto a clear transparency.

Use the Art Stamp Maker

Put the transparency with your custom design on the Double Glass Frame.
Place the Rubber Dam around your design as close as possible to the design without crowding it too much.
Cover the design with the Liqui-Stamp (Polymer). Note: The rubber dam material is placed close to the design to save on Liqui-Stamp Polymer.
Expose the whole thing for 8 Minutes in The Art Stamp Maker. Kind of reminds you of using an easy bake oven. This allows the Liqui-stamp polymer to hardeninto a commercial quality art stamp.
Wash off the excess unexposed Liqui-Stamp with the brush provided in the kit and check to see if the stamp is completely clean and ready to trim and mount.
Dry your custom art stamp and trim off any excess material. Glue it to any mount of your choice. It can be a simple block of wood or a fancy commercially made mount. It is up to you.

The Really Super Cool Part

You now have a commercial quality stamp of your own personal design and you did it in less than 15 minutes!
Your negative copy can be reused again and again to make the same stamp. That means you can sell your design or share it with friends and family.
The Art Stamp Maker can handle up to 25 square inches(4 ½" x 5 ½") at a time so you can make more than one at a time.
You can make a full plate of Art Stamps at one time.
You can have words or a design or both.

Things to do with your Custom Stamp