Rubber Stamping for Beginners

Discover rubber stamping (or currently, acrylic stamping), a richly rewarding technique that lends itself well to many other crafts -- including card making, scrapbooking, altered books, journal making, altered art, Polymer clay projects, mixed media art and many more.

Rubber stampers ply their craft with rubber or acrylic stamps. They use a variety of stamping inks and powders and of course, paper or another surface on which to stamp. Many stampers use an array of coloring tools (pens, pencils, water colors, pastels, markers, acrylic paints, inks, etc. ) to color the stamped image.

Recently, acrylic stamps have emerged as a popular alternative to rubber stamps. Acrylics are similar to rubber stamps. However, because they are clear and transparent, the stamper can see exactly where the stamped image will be positioned on the substrate.

In the birthday card to the right, the image is created with two rubber stamps, heat embossed with gold embossing powder, and then colored with Twinkling H2Os (a type of watercolor paint that twinkles or sparkles when dry). The stamped images have been matted and attached to a blue card made from cardstock.

Stamping is creative, fun, sometimes challenging and always rewarding.

The video below demonstrates basic stamping. It also demonstrates using a technique called "masking" and shows how to lightly tint the stamped image using Distress Inks and Prismacolor pencils.

Heat embossing is used with rubber or acrylic stamping to create a raised, embossed effect. Essentially, it involves first stamping an image, sprinkling the stamped image with embossing powder and then applying heat to the loose embossing powder until it melts. Embossing powder is a compound sold in many craft stores as well as online. It is available in an array of colors including clear.

Heat embossing is easy to learn, fun and creates an eyecatching effect.

This video demonstrates two ways to do heat embossing. The demo uses a watermark ink such as Versamark, a pigment stamping ink, embossing powder, a rubber stamp and a heat embossing tool.

TIP #1: Beginners ask if they can use a hair dryer instead of a heat tool. The answer is NO. Hair dryers are not hot enough to melt the powder. You can try melting the powder over a burner on the stove, but take care not to scorch the paper or burn your fingers.

TIP #2: If you plan on heat embossing, be sure to use the correct type of ink. Dye inks are fast drying and cannot be using for heat embossing. Instead, use pigment inks, solvent inks, hybrid inks or distress inks. You can also use watermark inks such as Versamark or Top Boss.

TIP #3: To avoid burning your fingers, try holding your paper with tweezers.

TIP #4: Avoid pointing your hot heat tool at the bottle of embossing powder. Either the powder will blow all over the room or it will melt in the bottle. You don't want either result.

TIP #5: Use a sheet of paper or a craft tray underneath your project. This makes it easy to pour unused embossing powder back in the container.

This video shows how to use the rubber stamped image created above to design a greeting card. Trim the card with colored card stock, papers and ribbon.