Hathormoon’s guide to rubber stamping

Please feel free to make a copy of this guide if you would like access to it off line.

Rubber stamps provide and excellent method of transferring images to different surfaces. You don’t have to artistic to create wonderful greetings cards, gift items etc, but those of you who are artistic can also take them to a different level, with clever overlays, special effects etc.

Mounted and unmounted stamps

Hathormoon sell's 2 types of rubber stamps, Mounted stamps and Unmounted stamps. Although they basically do the same job there are differences in presentation and they vary slightly in the way they are used.  Both types have good and bad points.

Mounted stamps come ready mounted on a wooden or acrylic block with a cushioning layer. They are ready for inking and impressing and so can be the easiest type of stamp to use for a beginner. The downside of this kind of stamp is that they are often bulky to store and more expensive.

When you buy an unmounted stamp you basically just purchase the rubber image without any mount. They are therefore often cheaper. In order to use the stamp you first need to mount it to a suitable block, and you may need to trim off excess rubber from the edges of the stamp. Generally people mount unmounted stamps onto a clear acrylic block.  The same block can be used with many different stamps as the rubber images are only temporarily attached to it. There are products on the market for this purpose eg, easy mount but I like to use a mild glue stick to temporarily adhere the rubber stamp to the block. Both the stamps and the block can be washed in mild soapy water after stamping. The advantage to this method stamping is that they are less bulky to store, cheaper and because the acrylic block is clear you are much more able to see where you are placing an image. The down side is that you do have to trim the stamps yourself and mount them up when you want to use them. Of course you also need to buy a suitable block for your stamps.

How to stamp

The most common mistake that people make when using stamps is that they ink them up incorrectly. The temptation is to place the ink pad on a desk and tap the stamp onto it. It is much more effective to place the mounted stamp on the desk face up and tap the ink pad onto the image. This gives you much more control and it is therefore less likely you will have areas uninked or blotchy.

Once the stamp is inked it is time to make your first impression.  It’s always wise to try a test stamp on some spare paper first. Place your card on a flat surface and press firmly with the stamp. Don’t tap or jiggle, a firm pressure is much better. Unmounted stamps don’t have a cushioning layer and so it is sometimes helpful to use a telephone directory or mousemat underneath when you are stamping with unmounted stamps.

Once you are happy with the impressions you are making you can move onto to stamping directly onto the surface you wish to decorate. This could be a greetings card, wooden box, tile etc.