How to make a Merry Christmas rubber stamp

When I blogged about my 'Winter Evening in Bull's Wood' print and the cards for sale from Suffolk Wildlife Trust, I promised to blog about making a rubber stamp to print a Christmas greeting inside a blank card.

Of course there are many Christmas greetings rubber stamps for sale in craft supply shops and stationery shops, but it's fun to do your own – here's how I did mine . . .

You will need a rubber stamp block (mine is a Speedball Speedy-Carve block) or a large eraser would work too.  

Draw your design then trace it onto tracing paper (or tissue paper) and turn it over so the letters are reversed. Now you need to transfer the design onto the block - I rubbed blue chalk onto the tracing paper then drew around the letters with a hard pencil. This transfers a faint mark, so it's worth inking over the letters with a non-permanent, water-soluble pen.

Now carve away the block around the letters using lino-cutting tools. The rubber block is very easy to cut, but mind your fingers – always keep them behind the blade!

The block (and your fingers) will get a bit messy! So when you've finished carving, give the block a gentle wash with a little hand soap and water then dry it gently with a paper towel.

Before printing, it's best to mount the block onto something firm and perfectly flat – either a block of wood or, as I've done, a couple of pieces of sturdy corrugated card stuck together. I used double sided tape to stick the card together and the rubber stamp on top.

Now, you're ready to print . . .

Either use a large ink stamp pad or a little ink pad that you can dab over the surface of your stamp – I can recommend Versacraft Small Ink Pads, they come in lots of lovely colours and print onto fabric and paper.

If you haven't time to carve complex lettering, try cutting a star or a simple snowflake to decorate inside the card or the envelope.

I hope you have a go.

Celia

xx