Going Against The Grain

    On the rare occasion I stamp, I like stamps that are a little quirky, a teeny bit random, and a whole truck load of unique. I have always loved the look of wood grain and have never found a stamp that had what I was looking for. Either far too much detail was in a tiny stamp area or reaaaaaally plain. So what do I do when I want something and can't find it? I McGyver it up!

More after the jump =]
    What could I have possibly made a stamp from? I pondered over it and came to the conclusion that if a stamp is made out of a rubber, I may as well use an eraser. I took two erasers I used in my drawing classes, halved them both so I could have maximum surface area, glued them to an old stamp wood base, and then went to work.

First, I waited for the stupid glue to dry and draw your brilliant idea. Note to self; don't use so much glue next time... it takes FOREVER to dry. Once the glue was dry, I took a couple fine tipped sharpies and drew on the design I wanted. (If you goof up the design, a little nail polish remover and a cotton ball cleans up the eraser perfectly.)

(You'll notice the eraser bits aren't perfectly level due to my wonderful cut-job, but that is fixed later on when cutting out the design later)

Second, take an x-acto blade and cut on either side of the drawn design. This is VERY important to do. If you don't do this step, when taking out your "negative space" the eraser will tear and make your personalized stamp look pretty crappy... kinda why the right side is sliced off unevenly (in the picture above)... that ugly bit had to go and start fresh.

 

Third, it is time to take out the white space between the drawn parts. I found a cuticle cutter is the best tool for this if you don't have a wood detailing/carving kit.

Fourth, look down the canals you just made to make sure you got all the rough eraser isn't high enough to catch ink and ruin your stamp.

Lastly, ink up your new stamp and have at it. However, I do advise you to take nail polish and a cotton ball to clean off the sharpie. It has the potential of mixing with your stamping ink and ruining the stamp.

My end result =]

Happy stamping everyone!